As I walked into this show, Bryan Grey Yambao (aka Bryanboy) gave me the up-and-down and observed, “I had no idea that men over 40 even wore shorts.” Meow, Bry, meow! Even for those not blessed with the best legs in the influencer game, this was most definitely a show to be bare-legged in: It ran super-late and got as hot as Hades.
Once it was under way, though, this new-to-runway outing for Acne Studios was gently experimental and occasionally excellent. As Jonny Johansson had explained preshow, “It’s an experiment with the definition of garments. We were looking at the archetypal constructions of one garment and applying them to another . . . I think a lot of shows are driven by categories, but if the perception of them is played with, you can make something interesting.”
This translated into an opening blouson with inverted jean pockets and a jean waistband worn above fine-cotton pants with a subtle kick, as well as what looked like a trenchcoat with a purple polo shirt collar, and a field jacket elongated into a piece of full-length outerwear (great in orange). There was some good soft suiting in linen that came in that violent orange and a tantamount-to-luminous green; an interesting loose trouser tied at the right hip; plus an overcoat in a woven greenish yellow fabric that sported old-school curtain fringing at the hem: soft furnishing for him. Bags mixed webbing and nylon with what looked like a print, but Johansson said that the image of a lake in Sweden was in fact woven: an organic rendering of a digital image of a natural scene. There were also some excellent shorts.
Afterward, Johansson, also over 40 and in shorts, took his bow to deserved applause. And, no, Bryan, I will not be going Prada short-short anytime this season. There are limits, and they start just above the knee.
