Jonny Johansson

fashion
9/23/2009

One for the ladies: Acne finally put out...


by Kiki Georgiou


Post-presentation interviews are daunting for any designer. Agreeing to be interviewed the morning after said presentation's drinks reception is braver still. So, over several glasses of water, Acne's Creative Director Jonny Johansson takes time out at the label's London studio to take us through the new 'Pop' line and showcase the incredible Acne SS10 main line collection. We even found time to chew the fat; musing spirituality, oddity and erm, Neil Young.



Acne followed last season's inspired presentation at the Sir John Soane's Museum with an electrically charged presentation at the Barbican's Curve Gallery. An ethereal projection; an experiment with light and crystals from acclaimed artist Katerina Jebb, entitled 'Untitled Film No1', acted as backdrop to the Stockholm-based label's SS10 main line collections. A collection that caused ladies everywhere to rejoice. And as if the privilege of witnessing the SS10 collection wasn't enough, were also treated to a preview of Acne's first 'Pop" collection for women. Ladies, no longer will you have to trawl through your boyfriend's wardrobe in order to don the preppy casuals that have made Acne the brand it is today. Acne are FINALLY offering up myriad 'must have' basics, dedicated to the fairer sex.    

"I felt that we're always going to be working with classics, and 'generic' is a word that I like a lot. So, we ended up with this 'classic' idea being a collection very inspired by the heritage of our brand" says Jonny Johansson, Acne's Creative Director. "We've always said that the 'pop' aesthetic is who and what we are." And its true. Acne embody everything we come to expect from 'pop': young, easy, and of the moment - yet somehow everlasting and era defining, interesting enough to make you look twice but adequately standard to let you build on it. These ideas are fundamental to the ethos of the women's 'Pop' collection.   

Up until now, the Acne 'Pop' lines have been mainly based on menswear, although, as usually happens with great men's lines, women start adopting pieces from them - the shirts, the jackets and, yes, the chinos. Jonny has always been interested in taking elements from one, say, a man's blazer, and working it in a collection of angular, sexy dresses. But it is also something he likes to reciprocate as well: "To be honest, I've always liked referencing details, sometimes pieces even, from the womenswear collection and reiterating them in the mens collections. I think there's more energy there." Anyone familiar with Acne will take this as a given, considering the transferability and unisex nature of the line.   For the new collection, Johansson felt an urge to reference Acne's humble beginnings, in particularly the late 90s. Acne's first women's 'Pop' collection is inspired, in part, by Neil Young. As Jonny explains, "I found this CD, Neil Young's Harvest Moon, and I remember I was listening to it back in the late 90's when were first launched the label. I gave it out to everyone at the studio and said, "This is it. This is what we'll work with. Some liked it, some didn't!"   

The first decision it influenced was the colour palette, obviously inspired by the somewhat austere imagery of the album's artwork. Jonny and the team worked, again, around basics, opting for a palette of black, white, blue and grey. The only colour in the collection was achieved by systematically playing around with the samples, bleaching and washing them in succession to achieve the desired effects. Classic techniques for a classic collection one assumes!    So, given the recent 90's revival, was referencing the late 90s an easy thing for Jonny? "No", he answers directly, "because I wasn't a clothing designer back then. I made furniture. That whole period was a very difficult time for me because I wasn't very experienced." The era of Martin Margiela, of deconstruction and the Belgian movement was a liberating time though, and has made a big enough impression on him to influence his thinking. "Initially we made a 'business' plan about what we should do, but of course, we didn't follow it." he muses. What they did follow however, and what is fundamentally the cornerstone of everything about Acne, is their proposition that "fashion is more than just a piece of clothing" and the notion that "fashion is merely about who is influencing whom and why."

Building a label from grass roots level into the international brand that Acne has become takes sheer hard work and determination, yet Jonny is the first to admit he's been, "very lucky". That said, the hard work has been evident from the start. His need to maintain complete creative control over all things Acne meant there was only one person fit to renovate the first Acne studio, situated on, what Jonny now refers to as, "the cheapest commercial street in town". His skills as a craftsman were put to full use as he knocked together the entire studio, furniture included. But, as we said, fortune does seem to favour the Acne posse. A chance meeting with Tyler Brûlé (of Wallpaper magazine) led to a huge Acne feature in the style mag, which "kick started everything".   

Of course that was then, and Acne is a different entity now. The women that are already drooling over the label's main collection for SS10 certainly believe Acne's success is down to more than just luck. Acne's mainline presentation of SS10 couldn't be more different from the 'Pop' line. It has a real sense of spirituality. Gone are the hard edges and emphasis on construction we have seen over the last few seasons. In its place are softer lines with a silhouette that fits closer to the body - longer and more fluid. For Jonny and the team it was a move away from an emphasis on the material and price, "There's been a lot of sensationalism about 'the most expensive garment you can make' and it's become a strategic choice for some designers to make something basic, like a t-shirt, very expensive. I don't think clothes should be cheap and shoddy, quality should be consistent and representative of the pricing structure, but a t-shirt for £500? Its a bit rough!" So, instead, for SS10 we focused on immaterial luxury, which in our times must mean time and space to stop, meditate, find a manifestation of our spirituality.   

Jonny's immediate idea was to work with crystals, recognizing their perceived 'healing' properties. "We used Swarovski crystals as small stars on the collection in different colours and sizes," all of which feature on pieces in specific positions, representing pressure points around the body. Working with fabulous crystals obviously affects the cutting and shape of the pieces, "you want transparency, you want long lengths, you want draping, you want sheerness". And that’s really what you get with this collection. Soft, yet without vulnerability. Confident without being confrontational. The modern Acne woman is the epitome of strength and spirituality and its evident in the collaboration with jewellery designer, Husam El Odeh. Inspired somewhat by Joan Of Arc, El Odeh embellished washed out jeans with beautiful silver 'shin pads', while tightly fitted jackets benefited from silver shoulder and elbow additions. It’s something of a departure for Acne, experimental even, but it works. And experimental is a word that seems to be increasingly synonymous with Acne. They push boundaries with their multi-disciplinary approach, and their fearless collaborations. As Jonny himself puts it, "I think we are successful because we're a bit odd."  

Couldn't have put it better myself! 



www.acnestudios.com

  

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