Paris fashion weekWith its Swedish roots, Acne has no weighty fashion heritage to live up to. "We can do what we want," says company founder Jonny Johansson. For Resort, that meant a collection that was, somewhat incongruously, inspired by Black White + Gray, the recent documentary about the relationship between Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe. "Their mix of uptown and downtown, against a backdrop of 1970's New York," was how Johansson described it. Hence the leather pants and waistcoats with butch biker caps. A leather shift dress was saddle-stitched in a technique the Swedes call laskad. And, this being Acne, all skins were bio-leather from an old artisanal company.

Balancing the butchness were fluid, drapey pieces in washed jersey, like a suit with a definite shoulder, sort of seventies going on forties, but sinuous enough to strip away the formality. A jersey halter dress had a whiff of Halston about it. And there was some of that designer's easy glamour in a cardigan jacket in black paillettes. Johansson referenced the jewelry Mapplethorpe designed with skull and crystal pendants. "I like a bit of spirituality," he said. That, however, was decidedly lacking in the shoe style called Pixel, with its literally killer heel of one long single nail.

Fashion Brand: Acne Jeans | www.acnejeans.com

Yike Ni jeans (Acne Jeans) is a well-known jeans brand in Sweden. In 1996, Acne founded in Stockholm, Sweden.