The photos might have given initial cause for confusion: Has Acne Studios opted to combine its men’s and women’s collections as other brands are doing? Or is the male model wearing the women’s pre-collection? Wait, is that Bobby Gillespie?
Indeed, the Swedish label featured the 54-year-old post-punk singer (also recognized among fashion people as the husband of super-stylist Katy England) in half of its Pre-Fall looks (model Angelica Erthal took on the rest). This wasn’t, however, a gimmicky exercise in wardrobe sharing—even though he happens to look marvelously debauched and debonair in the double-breasted velvet jacket and slim trousers. This is what results when Acne Studios’s Jonny Johansson thinks subversively about wearable clothes, subsequently inviting the artist to play an interpretation of himself. “As I was finalizing this collection, I realized I had designed a look for Bobby Gillespie,” explained Johansson in a statement, as he was unable to make the trip this time. And Gillespie doesn’t just wear the clothes—he assumes them with sardonic verve. In a draped azure satin evening dress inspired by a barbershop cape, he conjures up a disenchanted gospel singer.
But just because these ’70s pieces with their charismatic accents were designed with Gillespie in mind doesn’t distract from their intention for the rest of us. Johansson is a big believer in an elongated silhouette for Pre-Fall—obvious as a leather trench or unexpected as a vintage-inspired print dress over a caftan. It’s a persuasive look. Fans of the brand’s denim should prepare to add the pair embroidered with flowers and bees to their closets. Come to think of it, the real stars of this collection were all of the pooling corduroy pants.
