In the fashion world, the Internet nearly BROKE when news dropped on Monday, March 26th that Louis Vuitton had announced their new men’s wear creative director. Who could possibly fill this void to represent the mega fashion house? It would be none other than creative genius, Virgil Abloh. Virgil is known for his work as founder and designer of the streetwear label Off-White and for his collaborations with Kanye West.
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- Virgil Abloh- The new men’s wear creative director.
This news comes with such gravity and appreciation as Abloh will be the first African-American director at Louis Vuitton. He also joins the very scarce list of current black designers for a luxury house. What’s more, Virgil is joining the biggest house under the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) luxury brand. He plans to relocate his family to Paris for this undertaking.
Michael Burke, the CEO of Louis Vuitton can be quoted revealing that, “Virgil is incredibly good at creating bridges between the classic and the zeitgeist of the moment.” This is evident by examining his label, Off-White, and its success. The base of his creative direction at Off-White is centered on the rise and popularity of streetwear and its co-existence with luxury products. It can be argued that he utilizes “trickle-up” theory, which takes inspiration from the streets and moves them up the ladder as designer goods. In popular culture and fashion today, this trend has gained increasing momentum and has also proved to be wildly successful. Virgil is certainly contributing to this attainment, which will ultimately influence the future of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections.
Notably, Abloh is recognized for the resilient influence he has in the industry. There are a multitude of ways he will reimagine Louis Vuitton’s forthcoming collections. Primarily, he mentioned that he is putting together a “brand manual”, which aims to define new codes and a new ethos for his version of Louis Vuitton. He can also attest to the fact that he typically creates clothing based on what people actually wear, and thus wants to make a luxury version of that. He will do so by communicating with consumers, planning product releases, executing the runway shows, and depicting the global political mood. There is no shying away from activism and current world issues. This is corroborated when Virgil is quoted stating, “When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together. Fashion on this level can really open eyes.”
It is eagerly unimaginable what kind of creations Abloh will come up with for the upcoming June collection. His presence in the fashion industry has already made waves and it is clear that this perfect storm is here to stay.
