Acne Studios’ Spring 2022 Bridges Dystopia and Nostalgia. Acne Studios’ continues to solidify their status as a brand for fashion’s cool kids.
Acne Studios returns to the runway with their Spring/Summer 2022 collection in the heights of Paris Fashion Week. This womenswear collection showcased 44 looks by creative director, Jonny Johansson, and is not exactly what you’d imagine from a spring collection. It’s a subtle statement that’s an ode to the past yet fitting for the future.
“We live in the age of self-identity, of instinct and experimentation. The look is provocative and hard, yet is grounded in handcrafts that are then subverted,” says Johansson, “It feels like the movement towards self-identity has been growing for a long time, but since the pandemic, and the death of office-wear, it has become this global force. I wanted to make an instinctive and provocative collection that captured this attitude of experimentation”
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
The corsetry that can be seen on several looks, combined with the play on transparency throughout the looks also gave the collection that provocative and sensual feel whilst remaining tasteful and not tacky. According to Fashiontography, “The brand worked with couture corset makers to create many of the pieces in this collection, turning the pieces upside down, inside out, using the construction of corsets not for restriction, but for freedom.”
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
And indeed there was a balance between this provocacy and humility that can clearly be seen throughout the collection with contrasting elements from one look to another – a tough-looking leather coat that’s just a few looks apart from a sheer skin-clad dress. The collection presented Acne’s trademark of creating timeless pieces that resonates with the world’s youth but this time with an added edginess and nostalgia. With the younger generation’s obsession with anything ‘retro’, ‘vintage’, ‘Y2K’, it makes sense that this collection was injected with a bit of 90s flair.
The abstract prints, the patchwork leather, and not to mention the platforms and chokers were reminiscent of the grunge trends from back in the day. However, this grittier aesthetic was tranquilized by the feminine aura that was brought from the neutral colour palette and the prominent use of sheer and tulle throughout the collection. Although each piece was interesting on its own, they were styled together to create looks that seem effortlessly layered with the end effect of the looks giving off a post-apocalyptic semi-dystopian aura to them, giving a juxtaposition of futuristic essences from a nostalgic collection. (Text Vanya Harapan)