Virgil Abloh showed his second Louis Vuitton men’s runway today (January 17, 2018) as part of Paris Fashion Week Men. The billowy suits and apparel were an evolution on his debut runway with the rainbow wave of color stories replaced by a more wintry color palette.
The show included references to Michael Jackson both through the live music (performed by Dev Hynes), invitations and a single glove worn by several models. As well, one of the grouping was themed on flags from an array of country, a reference to Jackson’s “We Are the World” single.
The set was inspired by Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood, which Abloh sited in an Instagram post, whose caption read: “teamwork. it’s a community over here. humanity makes art. friends in your corner build mountains. the day I stepped across on rivingtion street and orchard street the world shifted.”
Set signage referencing the intersection of Rivington and Ludlow with shabby storefronts referencing not a modern-day Lower East Side but rather one that can only be described as a stereotype of the neighborhood’s grimier bygone days. On the one hand, it’s great that a luxury label isn’t attempting to keep the street from which so much of it’s inspiration comes from at arm’s distance, on the other hand it’s odd that its reproduction of the street is not unlike a Broadway musical. Case in point, the electronic street crossing walk signs simply don’t exist in the Lower East Side.
All told the show was a runway with some performance elements mixed in. Models trailed each other in a snake-like procession and the show closed with dancer Alton Mason, who performed a series of back flips in silk purple pajamas.
Significantly, for Abloh end-of-show bow, he teased what appeared to be a pair of Off-White x BAPE Bapesta sneakers.
The front row included Frank Ocean, Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, and Naomi Campbell.
Check out a video of the show along with a sampling of the looks below.
