Acne Studios and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle meet at the intersection of fashion, perfumery and art.
Dark Blue Earrings
Driven since their inception by the ambition to create a radically new aesthetic, both houses draw their essence from photography, architecture, culture and design, and apply those creative principles to everything from boutiques to clothing, fragrances to bottles. Frédéric Malle and Jonny Johansson, founder and creative director of Acne Studios, have always chosen to explore alternative paths, with a multidisciplinary vision of their art, and a steadfast commitment to the principle of absolute creative freedom. This common approach has given rise to a unique collaboration: Acne Studios by Frédéric Malle.
Acne Studios
Founded in Stockholm in 1996, Acne Studios has since carved out a unique place for itself in the fashion world as the uncompromising embodiment of multidisciplinary creativity. Its founder and creative director, Jonny Johansson, was born into a creative family where both music and art made an impact on him from an early age. As a teenager he decided to pursue a career as a musician and he played in various bands for several years. Over time, his varied experiences led him towards the fashion universe. Entirely self-taught, Jonny Johansson cultivates an experimental and practical approach to clothing, at odds with industry norms. His main sources of inspiration are born of his personal experiences and his interest in the arts. The Acne Studios label launched with raw, unisex denim styles that had an instant impact thanks to the bold feelings of freedom that they evoked in the wearer. This fresh creative approach soon encompassed collections of clothing and accessories, all defined by a timeless and refined spirit. Today, each piece is recognised by its keen sense of design, its precise cut and its superlative details. But Acne Studios is about more than just a look. It’s a new and progressive take on fashion and clothing, a philosophy where the functional meets the eclectic to unexpected effect.
Pink Pumps With Ornaments
Drawing on the abundant aesthetic of Acne Studios, Frédéric Malle hoped to capture its spirit and reveal its olfactory mirror. The creator has imagined a neoclassical perfume, both vibrant and comforting, magnetic and radical. He asked the olfactory prodigy Suzy Le Helley to compose this powerful manifesto: a perfume that would be at the crossroads of the great classics of yesterday and tomorrow.
Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle was born in the year 2000, the product of Frédéric Malle’s determination to champion perfumery and restore it to its former glory.
Guiding the world’s greatest perfumers to the very pinnacle of their art, he grants them total freedom to create, furnishing them with exceptional raw materials, and imposing no time or budget limits and no marketing constraints.
Mist Premier Bag
Born into the world of perfume, with more than thirty years’ experience, Frédéric Malle is the foremost expert in perfumery today. An unconventional and unclassifiable aesthete, he offers artists the opportunity to excel themselves, encourages them to develop their own idiom, and celebrates their creativity. And so, from each collaboration, a masterpiece is born. Like a literary editor, an enlightened accomplice who listens to his authors, Frédéric Malle pushes his perfumers to create their very finest works.
This unique approach results in an eclectic range of perfumes with the most diverse personalities—a collection that embraces all styles and olfactory families, revolutionises them, revisits the classics with a modern touch, and boldly strikes out into uncharted territories.
Suzy Le Helley
Suzy Le Helley is a perfumer who trained at the renowned French perfumery school ISIPCA and the Symrise Perfumery School in Germany. Having caught the attention of the master perfumers Annick Ménardo and Maurice Roucel, who became her mentors, today she utilises her talent at the fragrance house Symrise. Suzy draws inspiration from the diversity of plants, scents and flavours that she discovers in her daily life and on her travels, where she frequently meets producers of natural raw materials. Passionate about botany since childhood, she has also developed a taste for synthesis, and synthetic materials, which expands the palette and creative output of perfumers. Le Helley likes short, precise, easy-to-read formulas, where each ingredient is carefully administered to deliver a clear message. For Le Helley, “a perfume must smell like the message it is sending, with technical mastery always at the service of the aesthetic and the emotion.”
Feather Bag: Made To Order
Frédéric Malle found a kindred spirit in Suzy Le Helley, who likes to construct new olfactory forms from familiar materials or accords. If each perfumer cultivates their own olfactive obsessions, Malle’s focus has been trained on aldehydes – synthetic components which lend a perfume a fresh and dazzling quality, such as a zesty or a metallic note. These molecules, utilised for the first time at the dawn of the 20th century, have contributed to the golden era of modern perfumery and have energised timeless masterpieces. Moreover, their fresh, clean scent has contributed since the 1950s to everyday household products.
Like a garment cut from a rough material and transformed into a work of art thanks to its technical treatment and design, Frédéric Malle and Suzy Le Helley, faithful to the daring irreverence of Acne Studios, have combined functional and rich materials to achieve the exceptional.
Gold Astra Ring with Rubies & Diamonds
The Perfume
A perfectly crafted creation, the perfume has a singular allure. Aldehydes comprise the true backbone of the composition, unfolding in the first instance in a pure and crystalline breath that develops into a long-term radiance. This immediate, intense thrill is matched by the softness of the floral notes. Hints of rose and violet convey a certain classicism, underscored by the luminosity of orange blossom. At the heart of the floral bouquet, a hint of incense appears, supplying a mineral freshness that amplifies the aldehyde echo. Next comes a striking contrast with vanilla, subtle and understated, delivering its softness alongside creamy sandalwood and a note of peach skin. This softness caresses the skin like a comforting mohair sweater thanks to the graceful note of white musk. From this tactile and tangible trail emerges the soul of Acne Studios, by Frédéric Malle.
Swiss Blue Topaz Teardrop Pendant with Diamond
Pop Up Satin
