Awkward, askew, askance. Those might have been the three A s knitted into baggy collegiate sweaters at Acne Studios, the increasingly refined Swedish label with the quotidian name. To be fair, the name isn t so much a name as it is an acronym for Ambition to Create Novel Expressions, which sounds much better, plus it s factually correct. Some of the novel expressions in Acne s Spring men s collection included plunging drop-crotch shorts; beaded, intentionally threadbare sweaters tied around the waist; giant-size knit caps; spray-painted stars on an oversize T-shirt; and a generous use of knowingly unbecoming browns.
In typical form for Acne, a former denim label approaching its twentieth year, there was also a deliberate, clumsy squareness in the small offering, which creative director Jonny Johansson attributed to a one-size-up approach. "We ve always done dry menswear," he said at the live presentation. "There might be a casual preppy vibe and we may work in masculine colors, but it s always in our own unique way."
