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."
