BackStage

Acne Studios Presents Women’s Fall Winter 2026 Collection text Acne Studios images courtesy Acne Studios “I have a library in my mind of things that I circle around. It represents the different historic moments, music references or cultural inspirations that feed the collective creation of the brand. Ahead of this show, I was thinking back to 2010, when we made a runway through Lord Snowdon’s apartment in Kensington Palace; it felt disruptive and captured a mood. There’s a gloomy feeling to the interiors today. But then there’s an attitude to these women – who breathe new energy into clothes that began as classic – that highlights our hopeful point of view. Since 1996, many of my obsessions have shaped the world of Acne Studios, yet its heritage represents all of us, and we carry this forward.” – Jonny Johansson. Now in its 30th year, Acne Studios reflects on legacy, less as a fixed construct than a perspective on time that is worn, questioned and remixed. Within a setting conceived like an enfilade of salons, aristocratic notions of dress meet a certain form of minimalism. As boundaries between counter-culture and establishment continue to blur, and past eras resurface in new ways, the collection taps into preppy and polished codes, interpreted with youthful sensibility. Acne Studios embraces, reaffirms and revisits its signatures throughout the collection. There’s the leather biker or aviator jacket, mainly cropped, fitted and in punchy hues; jeans are slim and tapered, and the classic 1996 cut is revived; tailored jackets are sharp and can be slung across the body; knits are coordinated as preppy sets. A specific approach to layering puts these garments in conversation. The silhouette is convertible and unrestrictive yet anchored by moments of precision. A particular skirt – traditional in shape and length – becomes a character in itself, an emblem of intellectual femininity made contemporary. Traditional patterns are destabilised. Prince of Wales checks shift in scale, placement and colour – from dusty to darker tones; hortensia motifs in technical satin resemble tapestry and animal patterns are abstracted. Elegant silk scarves are now playfully extra-long in classical motifs and collaged prints. The larger-than-life faces are from Paul Kooiker’s portrait series of art school students, presented at Acne Paper Palais Royal last year. A reminder that Acne Studios is anchored in the idea of creative collective. The bent pointy toe defines pumps and stretch boots in suede and leather that climb up the legs, some with furry accents. Eyewear puts a streamlined slant on vintage styles with lenses in vivid tones that accentuate the composite character of these women. A new bag shape is structured with a single handle for an eccentric tilt, and the Camero returns in weekender size.  From one room to the next, the show signals memory as architecture, the portals marking what has come before, and what might follow. The soundtrack by Portishead unfolds slowly, the lyrics of Roads from an earlier time echoing with melancholy and defiance, gradually building with the energy of The Rip. Here, heritage is not a celebration of the past for its own sake, but a bridge to the future classics of Acne Studios.