The Raw Edge

Look at the shirt first. Dark indigo denim, a faded blue sleeve, a pale panel slashed across the front, silver buttons down the middle. From a distance it reads as a denim shirt that someone has repaired badly. Then look at the joins. None of them are finished. Every strip of faded denim sits on the dark one with its edge left raw, the threads hanging loose, a little paint flicked over the top.

That frayed seam is the whole idea of the new Acne Studios collaboration with Hussein Chalayan, out today. It is twelve pieces, and the house says each one goes back to three of Chalayan’s collections: Ventriloquy for Spring Summer 2001, Medea for Spring Summer 2002 and Manifest Destiny for Spring Summer 2003.

The detail

Whole look, then closer

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Acne Studios describes the shirt as “constructed with an asymmetrical silhouette and contrasting raw-edge patchwork panels”, with “paint marks for an authentic dirty effect”. The jeans use the same move. On the Patchwork 1996 Jeans, a dark indigo shape runs up the middle of the leg and the faded denim around it is left frayed, so the pocket looks like it was cut out of one pair and set into another.

The same seam, on the jeans

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Acne Studios’ collection page calls this capsule “an ode to 30 years of denim heritage”. The jeans come in its own 1996 and 2009 cuts. So the frame is Acne’s. What fills it is Chalayan.

The connection

Chalayan was born in Nicosia in 1970 and moved to Britain in 1978, according to the V&A. He studied at Central Saint Martins, and his graduation collection, The Tangent Flow, went straight into the London shop Browns in 1993. The museum describes work that explores migration and cultural identity, and an unusual use of materials and technology.

Medea is the collection to look at here. LACMA in Los Angeles holds a Medea dress from Spring Summer 2002, and its museum record lists the materials as cotton “with metal zippers and metal D-rings”. It was made to be opened and closed, layer over layer.

Now put that next to the Asymmetrical Denim Vest. Acne Studios describes it as made with “layered contrasting patches and piping throughout”, with “zip and tie elements”. Same logic: a garment that looks assembled from parts, with the hardware showing.

Layered, with the hardware on show

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The campaign makes the link literal. It was photographed at the V&A East Storehouse in London, which Acne Studios notes holds pieces from Chalayan’s archive in its permanent collection. The new denim hangs on the same racks as the old work.

There is also a book. Reference: Hussein Chalayan is a limited edition published by Acne Studios and editorially directed by the curator Charlene Prempeh, with archival illustrations, photographs and texts.

Why now

Archive revivals are everywhere, and most of them copy a silhouette. This one copies a method. A raw edge tells you the garment was made from other garments, which is exactly what you want to say when a designer’s old work is being taken apart and put back together by another house. The cuts are Acne’s 1996 and 2009 jeans. The layering is Chalayan in 2002. The seam shows you where one ends and the other begins.

That is also the useful thing to notice the next time you see patchwork denim. Ask whether the edge is hidden or left raw. Hidden, it is decoration. Raw, it is telling you a story about where the cloth came from.

Prices on the Acne Studios site: Patchwork Denim Shirt 1,100 €, Patchwork 1996 Jeans 850 €, Asymmetrical Denim Vest 850 €. Available online and in selected Acne Studios stores.