Acne Studios turns 30 with Nan Goldin behind the lens and a cast of friends who have helped shape the house along the way. The campaign is intimate, raw and unmistakably Acne Studios – a series of close-up portraits that place the people behind the clothes at the centre of the story.

 

In 1996, the Swedish house started with 100 pairs of jeans created by founder and creative director Jonny Johansson. Three decades later, denim remains at the heart of the house, while its universe has expanded into photography, art, music, film and publishing. For its anniversary, Acne Studios is bringing those worlds together.

 

Goldin’s photographs give the campaign its immediacy. There is little distance; everything feels effortless and raw, with the portraits observed rather than staged. The denim styles sit naturally on the creatives wearing them. Across the campaign, familiar Acne Studios silhouettes appear alongside the faces of artists, musicians, actors, photographers and long-time collaborators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Among them are Ellie Rowsell, Guinevere Van Seenus, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Jordan Hemingway, Juliette Lewis, Peter Schlesinger, Raya Martigny, Rila Fukushima and Sandra Poulson, a group whose connections to the house span campaigns, runway projects, exhibitions and collaborations.

 

It is distinctly Acne Studios in the way it marks an anniversary: a campaign that looks at the relationships that have accumulated around the brand and the creative exchange that continues to define it.

 

The accompanying denim capsule returns to the beginning. Three silhouettes reference different chapters in Acne Studios history: the 1996, a new interpretation of the original slim, low-rise cut; the 2009, revisiting the bootcut; and a denim jacket. Each comes in two washes, moving between untouched raw denim and heavily worn finishes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red topstitching and a flame patch reference the first 100 pairs Johansson created in 1996, bringing the house’s earliest visual codes into the present. The effect is less an archival reproduction than a conversation between past and present, with pristine denim sitting alongside pieces that appear to have accumulated three decades of life.

 

That sense of time is particularly fitting in Goldin’s photographs. Her work has long been concerned with intimacy, friendship and the fleeting moments that exist between people. Here, those ideas meet a brand whose own history has been built through creative relationships.

 

The campaign’s interviews follow the same instinct. Questions about friendship, spontaneity, curiosity and where one feels most at ease offer a glimpse into the personalities beyond the clothes. They also reflect something fundamental to Johansson’s approach: collaboration as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-season transaction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Acne Studios world has always been larger than fashion. From Acne Paper to its gallery projects, artist collaborations and long-running relationships with photographers and musicians, the house has cultivated a visual and cultural language that moves freely between disciplines.

 

At 30, that language feels as relevant as ever. The new campaign simply brings the people who have helped create it into focus.
The 30th-anniversary re-edition denim collection is available from September 3 in Acne Studios stores internationally and online.