Behind Acne Studios lies a story of transversal creativity. The brand was born in Stockholm in 1996 as part of a collective founded by Jonny Johansson, Mats Johansson, Jesper Kouthoofd, and Tomas Skoging. What began as a multidisciplinary creative studio specialising in advertising, video games, and design soon found its main outlet in fashion.

At the time, they developed everything from music and graphic design to furniture, books, and clothing. The word “Acne” stood for Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises. Years later, Jonny Johansson redefined it: Ambition to Create Novel Expressions.

The designer, born in Umeå, grew up among electric guitars, an artist mother, and a military father. His aesthetic sensitivity was shaped by music and counterculture. That same restlessness informed his vision: a brand that spoke through all artistic disciplines, architecture, photography, graphic design, always reflecting contemporary thought. A house that functioned as a studio, publication, gallery, and mode of artistic expression.

With artistic training and a sensibility nurtured by photography, music, architecture, and film, Johansson set out to create something different. His first step was designing 100 pairs of raw denim jeans with red stitching, which he gifted to friends and acquaintances. It was a campaign without grand ambition, but one that planted the seed of a flourishing vision. Soon after, Vogue Paris and Wallpaper Magazine began to take notice.

Since then, distressed, crumpled and deconstructed denim has become Acne Studios' hallmark. However, what truly defined Acne Studios from the start was its refusal to be limited by rigid definitions. Rather than establishing a uniform, it created a visual lexicon, its very own visual language somewhere between poetic, brutalist, and urban.

The brand grew without losing its independent spirit. In 2006, it debuted at Paris Fashion Week with a minimalist and highly graphic proposal. In 2008, it opened its first Paris boutique at the Palais Royal. From there, Acne Studios solidified a distinctive aesthetic: a Scandinavian language with a more rebellious, maximalist soul. Raw denim, oversized knits, and conceptual silhouettes became unmistakable codes of Acne Studios fashion.

Johansson never wanted to create a conventional fashion brand. From their brutalist headquarters at Floragatan 13, the former Czechoslovakian embassy in Stockholm, he has crafted a creative system that includes fashion, footwear, furniture, exhibitions, publications, and collaborations with artists from around the world.

“For me, the thing I enjoy the most is working with my colleagues closely and seeing sometimes that I impress them. When those things happen, I can walk home on a cloud.”

Jonny Johansson

Acne Studios operates as a cultural constellation. Through its campaigns, publications, and collaborations, it has built a creative network that connects fashion to the broadest range of artistic expressions, from the street level to the highest cultural heights. For Johansson, clothing is a medium, not a final goal.

One of its most influential projects has been the acclaimed Acne Paper, a biannual publication blending editorial, essay, photography, and design with the spirit of an art object. Under the direction of Thomas Persson, it has featured names like Tilda Swinton, David Lynch, Lucian Freud, David Bailey, Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi, and Roe Ethridge. In 2025, the brand reopened its Palais Royal boutique as a living gallery to host exhibitions tied to the Acne Paper universe.

Artistic collaborations have been part of the house's DNA long before it became fashionable. From the iconic campaigns by William Wegman and his Weimaraner dogs to tributes to painters like Larry Stanton, Acne Studios has made art a natural extension of its creative world. Katerina Jebb, Hilma af Klint, Jack Pierson, Peter Schlesinger, and Shona Heath have all helped to shape a brand that speaks through multidisciplinarity.

As a frustrated musician and meticulous observer, Johansson has keenly explored the intersection of fashion and counterculture, be it punk, Nordic folk, rock, or psychedelia. His collections subvert elegance with dissonant touches. His garments speak from the margins, where imperfection and concept coexist with technical rigour and aesthetic precision.

One well-known detail is the iconic Face logo, a Scandinavian emoji inspired by the word lagom, which expresses the idea of just enough. Not too little. Not too much.

The brand’s return to our store confirms its place within contemporary fashion. Acne Studios clothing doesn't abide by preconceived labels. It has created a truly authentic language, experimental, poetic, and culturally impactful.

In this new phase, we present a curated selection featuring essential pieces from its creative universe: jackets with graphic structures, layered cotton shirts and T-shirts with exposed seams, irregular knit sweaters… and of course, the iconic Acne Studios denim (or Acne Jeans) with its unique, imperfect finishes. You’ll also find their emblematic oversized mohair scarves and bags, such as the famous Acne Camero bag.

Their iconic outerwear also returns. Pieces that elevate the wardrobe with a distinctive spirit, reinterpreting classics like the trench coat or leather jacket. Acne Studios brings counterculture into the very blueprint, where classic silhouettes and staple pieces are reshaped through unexpected pleats and never-before-seen cuts.

This selection revives the brand’s founding spirit: breaking the codes of gender, silhouette, and function through the rigour of design, all with a collective, expressionist, and brutalist energy. These are pieces that carry an attitude, a constant questioning that is dissonant, visual, and artistic.

For us, their return also represents a meeting point between two complementary visions: one of a brand that champions fine art and curation as an essential part of the luxury experience, and one of a house that has made subversion and multidisciplinarity its creative axis. Bringing both views into the same space is a celebration of a truly authentic intersection between art and fashion.

This way, each Acne Studios collection proposes a conversation. A reflection on the codes of dressing, the balance between technique and emotion, and the body as a space for creation. That’s why we welcome their return as it deserves: with a curated edit that brings the free, elegant, and radical spirit of the Swedish house into our spaces.