Youth flies by in a flash. Ever after, it's remembered by totems and touchstones. Proust had his madeleine. Kane had his sled. Jonny Johansson has his MTV.
"When I was growing up, MTV was very important for fashion," Johansson said at Acne's Paris showroom. "TV is not really something you talk about. But the glorious moment of MTV was what I wanted to capture."
The teenager glued to House of Style was the muse of Acne's pre-fall collection. "It's a schoolgirl who styles herself a little bit," Johansson explained. The look was, accordingly, a little vintage and a little haphazard. There was plenty to concern a mother: ultra-short skirts in jazzy silver foil, see-through blouses in a rose print, and cropped sweaters baring a hint of flesh. Many pieces felt purposefully secondhand, like the cropped, bell-leg trousers; others looked adapted to fit, like school uniform shirts with sewn-on jersey corseting.
Befitting its inspiration, the collection also felt young. But a maturer designing hand was evident in clever touches like the zipped pocket that held coat belts in place.
