Virgil Abloh, Louis Vuitton’s polymath artistic director of menswear, has a knack for messing with the status quo. Each and every season his richly referenced, primary-hued collections bop down his (oftentimes extra-theatrical) runways, unfazed and uninfluenced by the whims and wonts of the fashion circus which swirls around them.
The designer's AW21 collection “E B O N I C S”, shown today as one element of a three-week-long “A Walk In The Park” LV menswear extravaganza, which is taking place in and around the brand’s Paris headquarters on the Rue du Pont Neuf, presented no exception.
Mounted within a multifaceted mirror and marble space designed to resemble a particularly elegant airport terminal (Abloh famously leads a wildly peripatetic lifestyle, which he’s no doubt missing right now), the collection did little to kowtow to the comfort-focused age we’re living in, instead proving generous in tailoring and dense in texture. Shown to the energetic strains of a soundtrack devised by Abloh’s musical director, Benji B and featuring a performance from Mos Def, it was also a collection that included something for everyone.
“The storyline takes its point of departure in archetypes: the artist, the salesman, the architect, the drifter, etc,” read the notes sent out following the show. “Defining the ‘normal’ characters of society, Virgil Abloh investigates the presumptions we make about people based on the way they dress: their cultural background, gender and sexuality. The collection strives to illuminate and neutralise the prejudice we create around people by keeping the dress codes related to certain archetypes, but changing the human values we associate with them.”
So rich were the stylistic themes woven into the fabric of this collection that I thought it might be helpful to pick at a few of them, in order to help you navigate Abloh’s latest high fashion odyssey (and choose a few pieces for your winter wardrobe while you're at it).
1. It’s all about personality buttons
We saw oversized logo-clad buttons on great coats at Prada over the weekend and, now, at Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh has taken the aviation motifs found throughout his show and translated them into giant airplane-shaped fastenings, specifically attached to the 1980s-inspired black overcoat pictured below.
Perhaps it’s a response to the fact that none of us can travel much these days, or maybe it’s due to the fact that Abloh recognises we all need a little more joy in our lives right now (the planes in the collection are, after all, a reference to his favoured theme of “boyhood”). Either way, chocks away!
2. Red is (still) the colour
Shades of vermillion, scarlet and cherry have been popping up in a number of the recent collections from the world's most important brands. Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen is somewhat preoccupied with the colour and there were shades of red dripped throughout the collections from the likes of Fendi and Etro. Abloh has long been a fan of a haemoglobin hue or two, and the look reached fever pitch today in the form of this ultra-elegant toadstool-red overcoat, which will transcend seasonal trend (meaning you can wear it for life, not just AW21).
3. We’re feeling the winter skort
Skorts (shorts combined with skirts) have popped up in prior Abloh collections and can regularly be found in those from Rick Owens and Thom Browne. This winter-friendly take on the form, more of a trouser-skirt twin-set, has shades of the jacquard wool onesies shown in Prada’s AW21 collection and the vibe is as brilliantly gender-indifferent as it is comfortable-looking. Our advice? Forgo the trousers and pop on the pleated skirt solo: it’ll be just the ticket as the weather warms up.
4. You really need an oversized trench coat
The oversized trench coat trend was huge news for Autumn/Winter 2020 and it’s set to kick off again for SS21 with labels including Burberry, Balenciaga, Armani and A-Cold-Wall* all producing takes on the style. True to form, however, Abloh has seen every other brand and raised them with his range of enormously proportioned trench coats with trains so long they’d have made a good wet-weather option for Princess Di at her wedding, in 1981. What’s more, the mossy shade of green means that this coat will work as well with a T-shirt and jeans in the summer months as it will layered up in winter. Just be sure to avoid puddles.
5. Dressing for town has been given a whole new meaning
Abloh started his career working as an architect, so it’s little wonder that the practice plays such a key role in much of his work today. So important is architecture to Abloh, in fact, that he decided to attach some of Paris’ key landmarks – constructed from sportswear fabrics – to a voluminous padded bomber jacket, shown halfway through the collection. We may not be able to visit the City Of Lights right now, but, for us, this is more than an acceptable alternative.
https://ift.tt/3pbQtGG
Entertainment
No comments:
Post a Comment