It was a rumour that was circling around the fashion industry ever since Kim Jones announced his departure from Louis Vuitton. Now, in less than three months, Louis Vuitton has finally confirmed that Off-White’s Virgil Abloh will be the new men’s artistic director with immediate effect.
It might seem like a huge surprise for some, but Abloh’s aesthetic is not very far off from what Jones did for Louis Vuitton. Remember last year’s Louis Vuitton x Supreme craze? Credit goes to Jones for making that a phenomenal success and bringing streetwear into the French fashion house. And then there's the collaboration with cult label, fragment design shortly before that. See the pattern, here?
While Abloh is a familiar face in the streetwear-meets-luxury scene, his designs for Off-White are not restricted to just hoodies and oversized garments. There are some semblances of tailoring and eveningwear but, of course, with a streetwear slant to them.
“It is an honour for me to accept the position of men’s artistic director for Louis Vuitton. I find the heritage and creative integrity of the House are key inspirations and will look to reference them both while drawing parallels to modern times,” Abloh says in a press statement.
One can’t really be sure of what to expect of Abloh’s first collection for Louis Vuitton. Will he create a new streetwear vocabulary for the house? Or will he infuse his leitmotif of literal branding on everything from ready-to-wear to the longstanding LV monogram (like what Diet Prada toyed with)? Or will he reach deep into Louis Vuitton’s archives and subvert them? We have to wait till June during the Men’s Fashion Week in Paris for the full picture.
