Aknvas Fall 2024: Modern Ideas Through Artistic Endeavors
Images from a recent trip to Rome and artists John Currin and Richard Artschwager were on Christian Juul Nielsen‘s mood board for his fall Aknvas lineup. “My whole trip to Rome was really important for this collection because I think in many ways Rome is very much what fashion is,” Juul Nielsen said backstage before his show. “It’s about the past and the future and how we mix up.” Add in the location, The Ritz Carton NoMad, as another touch point, keeping things “real.” Juul Nielsen may be Danish with European couture training, but he is very much a New Yorker, too.
He opened with the category that helped establish his brand’s place in the advanced contemporary landscape: intriguing knitwear. Colorful and tactile knit dress shapes with pom-pom details — a nod to Artschwager’s exclamation point art — set the mood. He quickly moved into minimal tailoring and faux fur as his next ideas, with loose oversized suiting in dark caramel and a nubby faux fur belted coat with a sharp shoulder, as well as faux fur separates. “I looked into old vintage furs,” he said, translating it into modern animal-friendly versions. Another fabrication the brand is growing: denim, here with the hand-done flower appliqués he has done the past few seasons, vintage looking with a high dose of fantasy.
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The volume was pumped up at the finale with a mix of sheer dresses with sequins that sparkle and seduce, exposing undergarments — a call-out to the sculptures of Italy while making the case that Aknvas is about more than just great knits and has room to grow.
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Launch Gallery: Aknvas Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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