Jonny Johansson got the idea for this season’s collection while at Jonathan Lyndon Chase’s exhibition Now I’m Home, lips that know my name at Sadie Coles gallery in 2023; the Philadelphia-based visual artist whose practice depicts queer Black bodies, culture and community in everyday spaces. “The domestic world has a lot of mixed connotations,” said Johansson, “but I love how Jonathan embraces and plays with it, it’s like a subversion of it.” And so at the Acne Studios SS25 showspace, creations by Chase filled the room. Chairs, pillows, lamps, radios, sinks, picture frames, and other household objects were painted with figures, words, graffiti and illustrations in vibrant, contrasting colours. It was home, but not as you know it.

Distorted notions of familiarity and comfort ran into the collection, as Johansson took wardrobe staples and had a lot of fun. Tailored shapes were blown-up cartoonish to proportions, jumpers were twisted like they’d been thrown on after a heavy night out and trenches elongated to lower the waist. Knits looked moth-bitten, in that uber-cool distressed way only the most couture of moths can do, and jeans were warped and wiggly like looking at yourself in front of one of those weird mirrors they have at funfairs. Plaid shirts, skirts and wraps furthered the domestic feel of the collection, appearing like picnic blankets or old shirts reconfigured into abstract new looks, ballet shoes were rendered in crochet knit, and leather coats were bonded with foam to look frozen in time. It was a psychedelic ride, like you’d swallowed a Willy Wonka truffle and stumbled home, or perhaps something a little stronger.