After causing a major stir with comments predicting the death of streetwear, Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh followed up with more detailed comments in an interview conducted in connection with a Louis Vuitton collaboration with Japanese designer Nigo.
In an exchange with Vogue on Monday (March 9, 2020), he explained, “I’m such a novice. I don’t realize that things can even go that far. I’m a little bit naive in that way. It was literally me in my kitchen just riffing on what I’d been thinking. I didn’t say it to be polarizing.
“I think that in the context of this conversation with Nigo, if you speak to anyone that’s been in streetwear for the last 15 years, it’s always had this sort of nine lives, dying and coming back, and dying and coming back. There’s so many first-generation streetwear brands, stores, and retailers.
“The market wasn’t as vibrant as it is now, so they went out of business and people don’t remember those. Nigo has had projects before; he’s had many a brand, many identities within streetwear. Partially what I meant that ‘it will die’ is that new things like tailoring from guys like Nigo and me will be born from the regeneration of it.”
