Direct Speech: Jefferson Hack and Johnny Johansson
Jefferson Hack, the founder of Dazed & Confused, took an interview with Acne's creative director, Johnny Johansson during Apple Fashion Week at Covent Garden in Apple. Look At Me attended this meeting.
Participants:
Jefferson Hack, founder of the magazine Dazed & Confused.
Johnny johansson, creative director of the Swedish brand Acne, which is not only a manufacturer of denim and clothing, but also a fashion community engaged in music, video, the release of its own magazine Acne Paper, and now also its own line of furniture.
1-2. Jefferson Hack (Dazed & Confused) and Johnny Johansson (Acne), photo by Alexandra Boyarskaya
HHAcne Paper is one of my favorite magazines. There are so many fascinating details that are not obvious to the general public and remain behind the scenes and then forgotten, and in the magazine they are carefully collected and analyzed.
Du: Yes, a lot of things are lost in the process. Something just didn't come in handy, so often happens, right? But we constantly discuss it. This study is half a year long. Not only what you see in the store, but how it all came from where the inspiration came from. This whole mixture of different trends and cultural phenomena that seemed fashionable or curious to us.
HH: Would you call your magazine somehow especially Swedish? After all, there is a certain Swedish artisan culture. Most of your aesthetics are reminiscent of the minimalism of the early 90s - something from the region of Helmut Lang, the Antwerp School of Design, the concept of deconstruction. Do you think there is a link between deconstruction and minimalism?
Du: When I started designing, deconstruction was an important topic in the fashion world. So I came to the fashion world - thanks to the ability to break something apart and then reassemble it. Today, the design of clothing requires much more skill when compared with those times, so this can be said, my legacy. And not only mine, but also many people with whom I work. Many of us have grown up on this.
HH: Let's talk about your new project - furniture.
Du: In fact, we investigated a certain lacuna and tried to answer the question of what is actually Swedish for us. Everyone asked me: "Is this Swedish minimalism?" And I said - no, definitely not. Minimalism for me is an art form. Is it functional? Clean? What is it, light wood, blonde hair? I do not know. Is it sex, free sex for everyone? I do not know what it is.
Acne furniture is sold at Liberty department store in London
HH: On these sofas it would be quite possible to have sex.
Du: This is your imagination played out.
HH: In general, it is unlikely to test, because Apple does not approve of such behavior in their stores. But the sofas look both flattened and elongated. Did you have the feeling that you rather manipulated the proportions to create these futuristic shapes?
Du: They are called Neo Berlin - in honor of the sofas that Karl Malmsten created for the Swedish consulate in Berlin. I was intrigued because the sofas were just very Swedish, and I was curious to understand how I, as a fashion designer, did what Karl did. Since we are dealing with fashion, it seems to me that today we can rather be called neo-classicists rather than modernists. We take the old phenomena and place them in the new world. In music, similar things can occur with samples. In a computer, play with proportions, print - and it's done.
HH: You showed the latest collection in Kensington Palace, a new store opened in Mayfair. Why do you seem so fashionable, independent, and the show and the store were made in openly bourgeois places? Is this a game of contrasts?
Du: To be honest, I did not think about it. In the apartments of Kensington Palace, I just liked the idea of showing the collection in the rooms, passing one into another, and also the fact that there was a garden.
Acne SS 2011
HH: How did you invent this collection?
Du: I wanted to do a very relevant thing, to be inspired by something that is happening now. I’ve been watching too many retro manipulations lately, and I really didn’t want to dive into that world. In general, I came to the conclusion that everyone around is either interested in tattoos, or they have them, and decided that this is to some extent a sign of time.
HH: I would not say that this motive is somehow clearly shown.
Du: We explored the idea, began to dig deeper, I discovered that I like island and tribal tattoos. We found two women who made Samoan tattoos - one of them painted on the body, and we copied and used drawings to create embossing on the skin and prints. It was already an easy, fun process. When you are engaged in fashion and you have to do four seasons a year, it is a great happiness to find something that inspires you. Well, I also wanted to work with a female tattoo artist, since we did all this for the women's collection.
HH: What do you think about Swedish fashion? I noticed that a lot of bloggers this year went to Stockholm for fashion week. What, Swedish fashion is becoming more popular?
Du: Yes shit there is everything, in fact, there is only us. No, I mean it is very hard if you are not from Paris, New York, London or Milan. The fashion world works that way - ok, let it be three years for Tokyo, and now a couple of years - let's say, Barcelona.
HH: And it seems to me that many interesting new talents have now appeared in Stockholm. And Stockholm Week is strengthening its position. But, of course, cities like Paris, New York remain in the spotlight, just like Antwerp with its strong fashion traditions. So talents are actually more out of school. Education is the key to an interesting and sensible design in 9 cases out of 10.
Du: When I went to school, all the children wanted to make music, art, design or media in general. This is what interested the coolest guys. And then politicians came and said: oh, we need more doctors or engineers.
HH: Yes, it is necessary, and fashionable doctors also want.
DuA: This problem can always be solved.
All reports from London Fashion Week.