Turn the clock back to the heady days of the Tumblr era and you wouldn’t have to click too much before you came across an iconic photo of Devon Aoki.
Leaning back against a bubblegum car in a skimpy white vest and hot pink lace-up trousers circa 2 Fast 2 Furious, or stalking the catwalk for Moschino and Comme, the 5”4 supermodel was the poster girl for offbeat fashion, also capturing the imagination of Karl Lagerfeld, Steven Meisel, and Nick Knight, who kitted her out in full McQueen and stuck her on the cover of Visionaire magazine as part of an iconic 1997 shoot.
Two decades on and Aoki’s influence can still be felt reverberating through fashion. Those editorials and promo pics, once shared far and wide across Tumblr, are now being spread via TikTok and Instagram by nostalgic 00s-focused accounts, and surely plastered across moodboards by the likes of KNWLS, Ottolinger, OGBFF, and more. Going one step further, though, is Acne Studios, which this season has enlisted Aoki to star in its SS23 campaign.
Taking its cues from the Scandi brand’s SS23 show, the model is captured by Dazed collaborator Carlijn Jacobs in a slinky pastel pink satin gown on matching ruffled cushions and skew-whiff sheets. Echoing the tension of the season’s collection, where cutesy gingham checks and delicate lace met savage pointy studs and barbed wire-like details, in her hand she clutches a formidable looking spike-covered bag. Elsewhere she’s wrapped up like a birthday present in baby blue, an enormous pair of shells hanging from her ears.
With the similarly iconic Juliette Lewis fronting for the label in 2018, and founder Jonny Johansson enlisting his 11-year-old son to feature back in 2015, the Scandi brand has a long history of casting left of field icons in its campaigns. More recently, the Motomami herself – La Rosalía – stepped in front of Paul Kooiker’s lens with only a belt and swathes of hair extensions to keep her decent.
Click through the gallery above to see the full campaign.