For SS26, Acne Studios proposes an ensemble stranger, and sharper, than perfection. The collection, according to the press release, was built around this idea of an “intuitive way of dressing, spontaneous and unbothered”. That means that where last season examined the glossy extremities of masculine suiting this outing offers a more youthful proposition: sleek, tailored precision yes, but made better by its refusal to be pristine.
It’s not about polishing the Acne man into his final form. Instead, we meet him mid-transition, dressed up but not all the way – not yet a man, but not a boy either. The lookbook charts his evolving uniform – spliced suiting, shrunken T-shirts, pinstriped denim tuxedos and slouchy compartmented bags. Proportions hover in liminal spaces; fitted shirts hang past the hip, while vintage-cut jeans reappear boot-legged and boxy – cut with the volume of jogging bottoms.
Things feel deliberately off. Too tight, too long, too short – always too something, but in the best way. Oversized aviators, paint-splattered slim-cut jeans and worn suede boots ignite a ’70s resemblance, but they’re not thrifted – they’re precision-aged. Acne’s fiction of spontaneity is meticulously reconstructed through this season’s awkwardly sharp suitor.
Staple hues and materials clash with curated abandon: acid turquoise cowboy boots, latex-coated denim, crinkled checks, neckties and chestnut leather loafers with funky painted tassels. There’s collegiate nostalgia throughout too, filtered through a kind of Swedish ennui.
This is Acne’s charisma: controlled chaos, worn like it’s second nature; and this season, creative director Jonny Johansson offers friction – a wardrobe stealthily still trying things on for size.
Photography courtesy of Acne Studios.
