The history of Acne Studio and Jonny Johansson

It would be wrong to limit the reality of Acne Studios to a simple fashion brand . Since 1997 - the year in which stylist Jonny Johansson founded the Scandinavian brand - Acne Studios has distinguished itself in the fashion system, creating a multidisciplinary reality that attracts different disciplines, from design to art, from architecture to music to photography. Focusing on transversality, the brand produces ready-to-wear clothing and accessories , magazines, books and furnishing objects.

Born in 1960 in Umeå - a city in the north of Sweden - to an artist mother and a military father, Jonny Johansson spent his youth playing the guitar in various rock bands. His career began with a collective called ACNE , co-founded together with Mats Johansson, Jesper Kouthoofd and Tomas Skoging . Initially an advertising agency, the four dealt in parallel with film production, clothing and video games. However, it is the fashion department that drives the success of ACNE , and this is how Jonny Johansson decides to take over the creative reins, consolidating the brand's statement and making it one of the poles of Scandinavian fashion.

Initially the acronym for ACNE was " Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises" , subsequently Jonny Johansson transformed it into Acne Studios , giving a new explanation of the acronym, now "Ambition to Create Novel Expressions" . Although Acne might seem like an unappealing word, the designer revealed that his intent was to decontextualize the word to find a totally different connotation.

In addition to the internal label bearing the Acne Studios writing on each garment and accessory, Jonny Johansson created the Face logo. It is a smiley similar to an emoji which, according to the founder, represents the stereotype of the Scandinavian citizen " Neither too happy and smiling, nor too sad". The expression of this smiley in Swedish translates to the word lagom. During the years the creative director transformed it into a distinctive sign for Acne Studios , positioning it in the form of a metal plate, embroidery or print, on women's and men's fashion garments and accessories.

Acne Paper has been the official biannual magazine of Acne Studios since 2005. The project was born from the union of two minds: on the one hand the aesthetic sensitivity of Editor in Chief Thomas Persson , on the other the creative flair of Jonny Johansson. Over the years, the magazine has collected works that have gone down in history in the world of fashion publishing, such as the editorial inspired by Marchesa Casati starring the actress Tilda Swinton, the nude shots of Leigh Bowery in the studio of the English artist Lucian Freud , the photographic works of the most famous contemporary photographers including David Bailey, Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi and Roe Ethridge.

«Acne Paper was a magazine made with love in which many talented people were brought together» says Thomas Persson on the occasion of the Acne Paper Book collection, «Each issue involved individuals from all walks of life, personalities whose cultural backgrounds or areas of knowledge probably they had never been featured in the same publication before."

Unconventional, crafty, functional, but also minimal, edgy and conceptual. The style of Acne Studios perfectly reflects the transversal soul of the brand. It is as if each garment or accessory best defines the quintessence of those who choose to wear it, thus escaping the dynamics linked to occasions of use, seasonality and trends. One aspect that distinguishes the brand is certainly the experimental approach to materials, confirming itself as one of the leading brands in the knitwear division (the workmanship and the playful approach to knitwear are highly appreciated) and denim . But among Jonny Johansson's fetishes we also find footwear - real sculptures, with which you can dare with extravagant shapes and designs - or bags .

Torn, smeared, creased, dyed, soiled, frayed and blitzed. Denim has always been a blank canvas on which to experiment for Acne Studios . In 1997, the year the brand debuted, the creative director created 100 pairs of raw denim jeans with red stitching which were later given as gifts to friends and family. The international success of Acne Studios denim comes when the first Acne Studios jeans attracted the attention of the press, which made it become a wardrobe must-have. In 2017, the Blå Konst line entirely dedicated to denim (which means "Blue Art" in Swedish) was launched, a collection of ready-to-wear garments, jeans and women's and men's fashion accessories which is updated on a seasonal basis.

Acne Studios collections often draw on memories of Jonny Johansson including an interest in music , social phenomena and countercultures. From the folkloristic inspirations of Nordic traditions, to hippie, punk and rock influences. «I like the contrast between the austere authority of the uniform and the softness of those looking for another way of life» , said the creative on the occasion of the spring summer 2022 men's collection .