This week, designers and brands including Louis Vuitton, Issey Miyake, and Uniforme have been displaying their autumn/winter menswear collections at Paris Fashion Week. In light of this, Louis Vuitton dedicated its catwalk show to the late Virgil Abloh’s last collection.
Abloh’s posthumous final menswear show was built around an elaborate ‘Dreamhouse’ concept with angels, breakdancing models, and a disregard for gender in the designs, according to reports.
“I don’t believe in gender; I believe in design” Abloh was quoted as saying in the show notes.
For the finale, when the designer would traditionally take a bow, his team emerged instead, receiving a standing ovation and rapturous applause, some reports indicated.
Ahead of the show, Dior designer Kim Jones, who Abloh replaced at the helm of Louis Vuitton in 2018, paid tribute as he said: “It’s going to be very emotional. [Virgil and I] traveled the world together. I feel very lucky to have known him. It’s such a waste to think what he would have done. He planned everything so perfectly up to the last minute. You have to commend him; he was so brave”.
Abloh, who was the artistic director for the French fashion house, as well as the founder of the Off-White fashion label, died from cancer in November at the age of 41. He rose to prominence as Kanye West’s creative director before making history as the first African-American to lead Louis Vuitton – mixing luxury clothing with streetwear.
Following his death last year, Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH described him as a “genius” and a “visionary”.
It is worth noting that next week, 200 pairs of trainers created by Abloh in collaboration with Nike will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York. The money raised will go to his scholarship fund, helping students of black, African-American, and African descent. The starting bid for the Louis Vuitton Air Force One trainers will be $2,000.
Virgil Abloh’s Mini-Documentary to Debut
Virgil Abloh, before his death, planted the roots for what would grow into a timeless legacy in the film industry. He founded Architecture Films, an independent film collective, alongside Mahfuz Sultan and Chloe Sultan. Now, a mini-documentary that they put together is set to debut.
According to Black Film, Architecture Films’ producing project, ‘Sub Eleven Seconds’, make its cinematic debut at Sundance Film Festival 2022.
‘Sub Eleven Seconds’ was shot during summer 2021’s U.S.A Track & Field Olympic Trials and centers around the rising Olympian-star, Sha’Carri Richardson. According to the producers of the mini-documentary, it offers viewers a personal glance into Richardson’s journey of achieving her lifelong dreams of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
The American track and field sprinter made headlines last year after qualifying for the Olympics. However, her dreams got dashed due to a positive test for marijuana. The result of her suspension and eventual disqualification sparked heated debates on cannabis, which has become legal in many states. Advocates called for change within the international sports world.
Sha’Carri recently dropped the trailer of the mini-documentary on Twitter. In it, she said:”Time is my blessing and my curse. On the track, I’ve been blessed to run fast. Off the track, the time has cheated me. You don’t know when something or someone will be taken from you”.
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