Spotlight: Acne Studios Los Angeles
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
Image courtesy of Acne
“I have an obsession with trying to be contemporary,” says Acne Studios Creative Director Jonny Johansson as he glances around his new flagship boutique in downtown Los Angeles. The modern interiors of the 5,000-square-foot store in the south corner of the Eastern Columbia building on South Broadway are a subtle nod to the 1930s steel-frame structure that towers above the first floor space. The multi-story building, designed by Claud Beelman at the height of the Art Deco movement and designated as an L.A. historic-cultural monument in 1985, lured the Acne team to the heart of downtown L.A. Johansson calls the neighboring theaters nearby, “the shit,” and says the architecture on this stretch of Broadway is “one-of-a-kind and aging gracefully.”
Johansson co-founded the Stockholm-based fashion house in 1997 with 100 pairs of jeans crafted in raw denim with red stitching. “We’ve come from one pair of jeans to a well-made dress,” says Johansson, pointing to ready-to-wear designs in the boutique. “People are attracted to our interpretation, our humor. But there’s nothing wrong with beauty. I love beautiful things,” he adds. Inside the shop, the stark industrial aluminum shelves and racks with denim and runway collections for men and women give the space a fresh look. “There is nothing that is timeless. You have to be contemporary. And what is contemporary? That’s the challenge,” says Johansson. He and his team flooded the new L.A. space with bright blue carpet, orange benches and a vibrant red VIP room.
“I was into researching the building, and the more I knew, the more difficult the store design became,” he says. “I wanted it to be the new thing, the space holding up the building.” To achieve that feeling, the Acne team installed the series of towering aluminum shelves amid the beams supporting the structure. And Johansson also likes the shelter provided by the phalanx of metal. “I don’t want to be seen shopping,” he says. “A little bit of privacy is never bad.”
Johansson, whose island summerhouse in Sweden was once owned by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, finds inspiration for his collections in his immediate vicinity at any given moment. “My method is working with what I do and see in the moment,” he says. Though he’s surrounded by fall ’13 collections for men and for women, Johansson is steeped in details for his upcoming Paris shows where Acne will present fall ’14 looks. “There will be lots of texture in the new collections and I’m really excited about the knitwear. I’ve always hated it, but the team has developed new technical materials,” he says. “I’m tired of structure, of women looking like robots. She doesn’t look powerful, she looks scared.” Acne’s upcoming presentations will include clothes with a degree of natural fluidity that Johansson says will be less professional and more eclectic. “We have to fill the stores with something interesting,” he adds, with a gleam in his eye.
The first Acne Studios shop opened in Sweden in 2003, and the company subsequently added boutiques in Europe, Asia, and Australia. This is Acne’s second North American addition (its Greene street shop in New York opened last year), and Johansson says it’ll lure him to the West Coast more often. Though he’s only visited L.A. a few times, he has many connections to the city and even spent the days before the L.A. opening surfing in Venice and meeting with pals who he says are recording a record in town. Johansson hopes his shop becomes a meeting place for his friends and all types of L.A. creatives, so he even outfitted it with a branch of Il Caffè, his favorite Stockholm coffee shop. “I would love this to become a place to meet, an exchange were different people can become part of a creative circle,” he says.
By Elizabeth Varnell
Pictured: The new Acne Studios boutique in downtown Los Angeles.
Photo courtesy of Acne
