“I just hope it keeps the same youthful energy, and stays inclusive of all the people who used to be around V,” said Abloh’s friend and muse Luka Sabbat before the show. But they’d be smart to continue Abloh’s spirit of inclusion and access and community building. It looks set to continue, as in Virgil’s vocabulary C is for collaboration.As the Spring 23 collection proved, whoever it is will inherit an enormously talented and spirited design team, one of the most critical factors in establishing a clear and strong message at a luxury house. Vuitton’s collaboration with the skatewear brand Supreme under Jones’s watch in January 2017 contributed significantly to its owner LVMH’s 29% profit increase that year.Ībloh has also created sell-out collaborations, including the Off-White x Nike Air Jordan 1 Chicago trainer, for which resale prices exceeded $2,000 (£1,500). The baton has been passed amicably between the two, with Abloh seen as a complementary successor, given their talents at creating cult products and the hype that goes with them. His mother said she had two words of advice for her son before the show: be cool.Ībloh succeeds Kim Jones, who makes his debut at Dior Homme on Saturday, in the role. This was their first time in Paris to witness his work and both said it had been an emotional two days. His Louis Vuitton collection elicited a standing ovation from the audience, among whom was Abloh’s mentor, Kanye West, who hugged the emotional designer as he bowed and admitted to the audience that he was very proud.īackstage were Abloh’s parents, Eunice and Nee, waiting patiently to congratulate their son. The rainbow-infused runway at Virgil Abloh’s debut Louis Vuitton menswear collection at the Palais-Royale in Paris. As an outsider, she soon discovers she was taken to Oz for a reason’.) (D was for Dorothy, by the way, ‘A farm girl from the Midwest transported to Oz, a fairy tale land where she experiences things beyond her imagination. Tie-dye jacquard smocks, hooded anoraks and oversized shirts took on a Wizard of Oz theme, with the face of Judy Garland’s Dorothy depicted in sequins and surrounded by poppies. While there was plenty of tailoring to please that clientele, there was equal measure of teen spirit.
The model line-up, meanwhile, had representatives from every continent in the world – bar Antarctica – that were shown on a map that read “We are the world”.Īt his own Off-White show on Wednesday, the father-of-two explained that he saw his brand as the teenager to Vuitton’s adult. In the lead-up to his debut collection, he shared snapshots of his inspiration with his 2.3 million followers on Instagram and, at the show, the spray-painted rainbow catwalk (matching the palette of the collection) was lined by students he had invited from Paris. In his dictionary, F was for “fandom: two-way worship between a designer and his clientele”. What he is, however, is focused on diversity and inclusivity. The utility belt, Louis Vuitton-style, by Virgil Abloh. A reminder that he has never attested to be anything he is not. On Thursday in Paris, Abloh explained to guests that he would not describe himself as a designer or an image maker, but that he wanted to “define the title of artistic director for a new and different era”. When news broke of the hire, Louis Vuitton’s chief executive, Michael Burke, praised Abloh’s “innate creativity and disruptive approach”. The way he has challenged the preconceived notions of what a fashion designer looks like at his five-year-old label Off-White, is exactly the fresh perspective that has captured the millennial zeitgeist and ultimately had Louis Vuitton knocking on his door. What could be his achilles heel, however, is his greatest asset.
The 37-year-old didn’t go to fashion school instead his formal qualifications lie in engineering and architecture and he has had a successful career as a DJ and producer for the past two decades. What makes his new role the most interesting is his unorthodox trajectory. The Louis Vuitton Petit-Malle, reimagined by Virgil Abloh.
0 kommentar(er)
