Not a show in attendance, nor a digital short film like the designer Virgil Abloh opted for the Fall21 Louis Vuitton show. His Off-White brand collection was more like an online platform inspired by 90s TV. The designer wants to offer the public an innovative container containing various types of material capable of inspiring and communicating the essence of the brand. Music, dance, art, poetry, and fashion appear among the so-called channels of “Imaginary TV “.
“The idea of Imaginary TV comes from a modern poetic vision for, and of, the increasingly virtual world. It takes a universal and all-encompassing approach. I want to connect, proposing a global network, and unite creativity by catalyzing multiple emotions. We live in a world and in an era that is already mostly digital native. Within the collection itself, I wanted to capture what it means to be human at this very moment “. These are the words of Virgil to present the show.
For his latest collection, Virgil Abloh has created a short circuit by proposing a central theme: “Adam is Eve”. It is a fusion of masculine and feminine languages and prerogatives to bring the two codes closer together. The great classics of the male wardrobe are innovative, avant-garde. Therefore, a co-ed show would seem to aspire to be genderless, marking a decisive new balance in the brand’s aesthetics. A collection very far from the maximalist graphics and the screamed branding in the first Off-White collections.
Returning to the collection itself, the style adopted prefers contemporary tailoring, including blazers with holes, deconstructed jackets, wide trousers and unisex mini dresses. Gender labels and definitions were abolished, men and women wear fluid clothes. They both wear long skirts, knitted dresses, halter neck dresses, and tops. The knitwear items have high collars that can be pulled up if necessary to cover the nose and mouth, thus acting as a mask for the face. Also interesting is the choice of accessories such as sunglasses, already considered a must-have. Given the times we are traveling, a reinterpretation of the mask mixed with the bandana could not be missing.
Finally, another element demonstrates the avant-garde of the brand in its new path: The desire to embrace the see-now-buy-now strategy. Part of the products are already available for purchase.
