Acne Studios celebrates knitwear with verve

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 19, 2018

Once again, Acne Studios, which had not put on a men's runway show for a year, surprised those in attendance with an unusual show this Friday. There were no seats for the audience, and certainly no front row. Everyone was in the same boat, standing by the catwalk, just like in the old days! What was more, the show started as the attendees were talking among themselves, catching them off guard as they were sipping mandarin juice and admiring the superb knitwear pieces exposed here and there around the room. 

Indeed, knitwear is the focus of this beautiful fall/winter 2018-19 menswear collection featuring warm, bright colors – particularly electric blue and shades of red-orange – and peculiar weaves and finishes. 

A canary yellow cardigan with an elastic hem was woven from a mixture of natural and synthetic fibers; duffle-coats and trousers, knitted from wool and threads with different colors and weights, sketched out unevenly textured patterns, creating a mottled effect that resembled an aerial photograph. Crocheted ripples decorated a cable knit jumper in contrasting dark and light tones. A piece of knitwear was sewn into the back of a leather jacket, like a tapestry. 

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The collection also plays with graphic elements, such as the woollen threads moving in and out of a pullover, hanging for a moment as though unraveling, before leaving the piece unfinished, lending it the allure of an abstract work of art. Elsewhere, a blue thread could be seen bordering an armscye or the chest pocket of a chocolate-colored jumper. 

The vertical stripes of a crew neck jumper became horizontal as they descended its over-long sleeves, while scraps of mohair outlined a rocket and a star on two tops, as though a child had drawn them. 

Children and their naïve drawings are, in fact, the inspiration behind this very authentic collection, as explained by Jonny Johansson, the creative director of the Paris-based Swedish brand: "I wanted to make a collection around pure creativity, so we began by asking some children to draw their ideas of clothes. It's a new, fresher way of thinking about fashion".