Challenge

Acne Studios Spring Summer 26 was unveiled at the Collège des Bernardins, where Acne Studios transformed a historic church into a 1970s cigar lounge layered with dark wood, deep carpet and the collaged works of artist Pacifico Silano, establishing the spatial and material codes of the season.

The Fashion House sought a partner to design and evolve the creative direction of their Spring Summer 26 collection within their Parisian showroom, to design and build a world rooted in the collaged language of Pacifico Silano and reflective of the collection’s blurred lines between masculine and feminine energy.

Building on the Paris showroom concept, the next challenge was to carry this design language into a global rollout for Spring Summer 26. The layered world created for their showroom installation was to become the foundation across their flagship and concession stores globally.

Insight

At the core of Spring Summer 26 was a clear visual tension. The runway and the collaboration with Pacifico Silano both relied on fragmentation and perspective, where imagery was cropped, layered and revealed in parts rather than in full.

Our creative response was to translate that idea into space. Instead of designing a backdrop, we created a structure built on reveal. Intersecting planes and framed apertures changed sightlines as you moved around the space, where product and artwork emerged gradually as you moved around the installation. We were inspired by Pacifico Silano’s work, and the voyeurism, the change in viewpoint as you move around. We wanted to emulate that shift in viewpoint, so that what you saw depended on where you stood and how you moved.

Solution

Designing two retail routes, derived from the same creative language, a scaled down version of the showroom showcase was developed. For flagship locations, we introduced a design that increased product display while preserving the sense of reveal at the heart of the concept.

From design through to production, each installation was crafted in our London workshop. Materials were carefully matched to the runway palette, Pacifico Silano’s works were printed directly onto metal in line with his practice, and every detail was resolved to ensure the integrity of the original vision carried through.

Rolled out across key global locations including Milan, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Shenzhen, the installations established a cohesive seasonal signature. What began as a moment inside a historic church evolved into a global in-store presence, ensuring Spring Summer 26 was experienced not just on the runway, but in every key retail setting worldwide.