Filed under: ACNE
In what was arguably one of the strongest collections I’ve ever seen, ACNE’s (Ambition to Create Novel Expression’s) Jonny Johansson fulfilled what I’m calling the anti-cliche, doing so with a hugely resonating effect (I can’t stop looking/lusting).
Johansson visited Marrakech – the land of overhyped romance, of Yves Saint Laurent’s underwhelming gardens, of alleged Arabesque beauty, and of girls from Laguna Beach and Dallas “being adventurous.” Yeah. I’ve been to Marrakech, and it’s not what you think.
What I liked about the city, though, and what I think Johansson perfectly reflected in his street-savvy and jarring pieces, was its hardness and its bloodline of mystery and intrigue. Marrakech is not all oasis and splendor – there’s real poverty, and it has that distinctly third world edge where you just know something else is going on, something real and troubling, behind the smoke and mirrors of a paradise designed for foreign influx and foreign money and foreign practice. I’ll let you think about that and come to your own conclusions, but in my book, Jonny got it all kinds of right – the sparkle of nightlife, of street-lamps, of dark alleyways, the colors of the city inside the medina (permanently coated in dust), the Euro types in their baseball hats – it all fits, and it’s all genius.
As cool as cool gets. Note the star, which appears as green and overlapping in Morocco’s flag (representing Soloman’s seal).
More stars, irreverent pants.
Hanne Gaby, looking intimidating, if not mysterious. Imagine seeing this girl walking down the street. I can’t tell you how in love with this collection I am. I want to be Swedish and amazing from now on.
I’m done.
-Elliot
