Acne has gone full circle. Lost in the arrondissements of Paris, if you look hard enough, you can find the location of the brand’s first ever store in France. What began in back 2008 as a quiet retail shop has, by 2025, evolved into a physical manifestation of the brand’s current vision and legacy. The relationship between art and Acne Studios is symbiotic: the house simply cannot exist without art, and the art scene leans on Acne as one of its vital platforms. Hence, the Swedish brand goes a step further by opening a permanent art gallery space in the remnants of their original Paris location, titled the Acne Paper Palais Royal.

Acne Studios institutionalises their relationship with the Parisian art scene by opening up the gallery space for a cross-disciplinary program of exhibitions, artist talks, magazine launches, book signings, and cultural events. The opening exhibition, led by Dutch photographer Paul Kooiker, known for his experimental style and visually charged compositions, sees 42 art students from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam being photographed in black-and-white portraits. The photos are reminiscent of classic school photos; ones you would typically find in yearbooks or graduation pictures, but now recontextualised to reflect the current times, a more unstable and uncertain present.

It is initiatives such as these that are coded into the DNA of Acne Studios. As a harbinger of art and design, Acne remains as one of the few brands that retains its pulse on the culture. At the grand opening party, icons and rising stars alike gathered in celebration, ranging from legends like Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy to Thailand’s new star wave, Peemwasu and Meennicha giving their A-star cosign at the event. With the Acne-verse seemingly extending to newer facets of the zeitgeist, the Acne Paper Gallery is merely the first of many moves to watch.

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