Marking its 30th anniversary, the Stockholm-based label originally founded as Ambition to Create Novel Expressions revisits its foundational textile. The Acne Studios 30th-anniversary capsule collection of re-edition denim releases globally on September 3 across international boutiques and the brand e-commerce platform. Pointing to the specific fabric choice, co-founder and creative director Jonny Johansson states, "Denim is the perfect canvas. We’re rooted in it. It’s a material of today that also ages and becomes something else through its story."
Photographed by Nan Goldin, the casting roster gathers previous brand collaborators, grouping musicians Ellie Rowsell and Juliette Lewis, actors Raya Martigny and Rila Fukushima, artists Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Peter Schlesinger, and Sandra Poulson, alongside Guinevere Van Seenus and Jordan Hemingway. Outlining the strategy, Johansson notes, "The subjects are people from our universe – individuals we have collaborated with, spoken to, or had some kind of exchange with over the years. I wanted friends, not models."
Talking about the textile, Lyndon Chase states, "I love its multifaceted materiality." Hemingway adds, "For me, denim represents history, childhood and freedom." Commenting on the broader approach of the fashion house, Lewis remarks, "Out of the ordinary, inventive, totally unusual. They don’t follow trends or rules."
Tracing back to the initial 1996 launch of the company, the 1996 jean establishes a slim, low-rise fit. The 2009 shape pulls a bootcut pattern drawn from that corresponding era. A standard denim jacket completes the upper torso. Processing the cotton twill, the manufacturing facilities execute two distinct finishes for each piece. Pristine raw denim contrasts directly against distressed pairs treated to replicate 30 years of wash and wear.
