Milan-based Off-White adds to its long list of Instagram accounts with a new feed dedicated to providing more information on what informs the label’s designs.
The account was launched in mid-July with behind-the-scenes images of Off-White’s women’s and men’s resort 2021 collection, as styled by Ibrahim Kamara and photographed by Andrea Artemisio.
Checking in from his home in Chicago, Off-White founder and creative director Virgil Abloh told Vogue, “Something about this feels more me in a way. If I were a 17-year-old kid and I wanted to learn how to get into fashion, all I would want is a documentary or an Instagram account where I could see how the idea comes to life because then I could take that and interpret it how I would want to. So this account to me is going to be the home of future seasons; it will be the place where we can story-tell and show our process, thereby letting people into the DNA of Off-White, not just the surface of Off-White.”
In addition to collection photography, the feed also shows Abloh’s design notes and adjustment as well as DM exchanges related to art direction for various projects.
Abloh also includes voice notes in the feed that provide his thoughts on an array of design-related topics. In one addressing the ongoing debate over menswear, Abloh stated, “If menswear and streetwear, whatever you want to call it, is a wave, I’m always trying to be ahead and always trying to sort of surf on it.
And so, there’s been this little gradual refinement that’s being happening throughout Off-White since it started. And I have of thought of this logic and this muse: again half businessman, half youthful, sort of like a teenager and how they can crash together.”
In a more recent voice note, Abloh revealed that the men’s and women’s resort collections were shot together. He added, “You know I’ve always had two track brain: men’s and women’s have been on a different maturation phase for me.
“And one of the things I’ve been able to do with the COVID break, that three, four month break, is I merged men’s and women’s studios together as one. And that’s a little bit of a preview of what will come. When we do show again, we’ll probably, I’ll give you the early news that, it’s all re-calibrated and now they’re in sync. Like, one studio merged together. One photographer, one stylist, which has never been the case in Off-White.
“When it started, I was part of that explosion of menswear and I started womenswear because I knew I wanted to craft that and they were just different syncs.”
Check out some of the posts from @off__white__seasons below.
