To celebrate 10 years of showing in Paris, Acne Studios put on a twisted wedding party of epic proportions. As guests entered the Palais de Tokyo space through a blush pink hallway, they were greeted with beds draped in pink silk sheets, the space lit up by shell-encrusted candelabras. Waiters wearing custom chef whites circulated silver trays of fruity cocktails to guests including Gigi Goode, Bakar and Kylie Jenner (who went for bubbles, instead).
Inspired by everything bridal, from red roses to wedding slippers and Valentine’s bows, the SS23 collection translates these ceremonial fixtures and special occasion signatures into easy everyday wear. “There’s something cute, kitschy, sweet about weddings – but also something serious, tense, and vulnerable. I wanted to put a spin on the classic, kitschy wedding,” said creative director Jonny Johansson. “I wanted to counterbalance the archetypes of formalwear with playful touches.”
The SS23 womenswear and menswear outing kicked off when avant-harp collective LEYA and Eartheater took to the strings, and as for the clothes themselves, this sense of playfulness could be felt throughout. The first look was a white lace dress with a pale blue silk bow across the front, subverted ever so slightly by a piece-y finish and mesh overlay that shirred to create a drop waist effect. A series of semi-destroyed white knitwear looks featured wavey necks and hemlines, that joyously bounced down the runway. The looks were accessorised with silver studded chokers and belts, poetically adorned with roses. Elsewhere, brushed leather trousers and oversized blazers in various “sickly-sweet” pastels had sliced cutouts with stud accents.
On the whole, it felt heavily romantic, though staging a wedding-themed runway in a pink carpeted room, this was to be expected, but when the colour palette turned a bit darker — and later to gingham — was when things really started to shine. One of the white knit catsuits from early on was replicated in beige and black, the pink rose subbed for burgundy, making the look much less demure, more thorny. A black suit had cutouts around the armpits, and raw hems that framed the bust — the same roses were set precisely where the nipples would be. A set of mesh naked dresses were lined with lengthy fringe to obscure the body’s features, and three fairytale hoop skirt dresses closed the show, the last one in black, the model’s hair dyed a dark blood red and looped into bows at the back.
Across the collection, Jonny finds balance between these very coquetteish motifs — the roses, the bows, the sheer-white-everything — and his studded thorns, giving an antiquated tradition a very Acne Studios update for the here and now. Sickly-sweet, indeed.
Credits
Images via Spotlight