Virgil Abloh left a void in the fashion world that we may never recover from. Earlier this year at Paris Fashion Week, Louis Vuitton presented its Fall/Winter 2022 collection, the latest menswear collection dreamed up by the late creative director of the house. On June 1 this year at the Pinnacle at Iconsiam, Louis Vuitton held Southeast Asia’s biggest spinoff show in Bangkok, showcasing its Fall/Winter 2022 menswear collection with nine additional never-before-seen looks.
The celebration of Abloh’s heritage, which is evident in the Fall/Winter 22 collection, is based on arcs such as the coming-of-age premise, the global perspective and the cycle of creativity. Showcasing the nine unreleased looks from the original collection, it explores these ideas through circular patterns. Models were seen traversing circular passageways, creating an illusion of circularity.
For Fall-Winter 2022, the eighth chapter of his arc at Louis Vuitton, Abloh has built a Louis Dreamhouse around a collection steeped in the fundamental ideologies of his practice. Titled 8.2, the Bangkok show features a sequel to the collection premiered at Paris Men’s Fashion Week, which takes place in a Louis Dreamhouse2, a reinterpretation of the Dreamhouse originally shown earlier this year in January.
It manifests in a physical yet surreal sphere where everything circulates – the sun orbits the set as the models travel in circular passageways and the instruments float planetary in the dreamy ether. In the marvelous architecture of the Louis Dreamhouse, Abloh uses the key ideology of childhood in his philosophy, which is to see the world with the unbroken eyes of a child. Through this lens, the membrane between reality and imagination is non-existent. Dreams can come true. Yet to be programmed with society’s adult and artificial notions – “high or low”, “black or white”, “masculine or feminine” – a child’s mind knows no bounds, no prejudices.
A cinematic prelude created for the show’s digital audience, titled I dream of you, depicts the ideology of childhood, key to Abloh’s philosophy through the lens of director Sivaroj Kongsakul. Based on the filmmaker’s childhood memories, the story follows the formative experiences of an 11-year-old boy in the outskirts of rural Thailand. It is an illustration of a belief that is integral to Virgil Abloh’s worldview: youth is global. In a 2019 recording played before the show, Abloh said, “We could go to India, Kansas or Cuba, but wherever we go, the focus is on youth: the stage of your life before you you have been taught or programmed to do, think or wear certain things. And in this study, you realize that teenagers on both sides of the world face the same things. It reflects the fact that fundamentally we are all one.
Ideology brings a collection that reinvents dress codes typically tied to societal archetypes such as tailoring, sportswear and dresses, and patchwork in new ways – starting with ready-to-wear pieces such as varsity jackets, fluid silhouettes and overcoats with tapestries and decorations, an ode to the ancestral city of Louis Vuitton. The tapestry appearing in the seam features one of three images: Gustave Courbet’s Painter’s Studio from 1855, Giorgio de Chirico’s Souvenir d’Italie from 1914, and a 19th-century floral Gobelin.
Tie-dye is a recurring motif in Abloh’s work, which is performed on embossed monogram denim pieces and in a shearling coat. Kaftans and jellabas represent an asexual silhouette, while patchwork is used to cut out archetypical garments and put them together in new ways, such as a patchwork of bomber jackets from printed jersey T-shirts and denim jackets. It delves further into the imagery of natural, supernatural, and spiritual forces like time, magic, and creation, which appear as childlike depictions, including patterns and graphics of wizarding patterns, animal elements, wings of creatures, and creatures. angel, cherubs, clouds and the Grim. Combine.
The color palette varies between shades of white, muted tones and vibrant palettes. Angel wings made their appearance in accessories, a highlight of the show. They are constructed like kites in lace, tulle, cotton poplin and sheer fabrics with intricate embroidery that pays homage to the childlike imagination of flight, as well as the notion of heaven on earth. The anthracite, gray and sky blue Taurillon leather climbing bags are embellished with climbing holds, representing the idea of climbing in paradise. Blurry monogram bags mask the familiar monogram motif, while shapes are skewed and distorted in keeping with the surrealism of the collection.
Paint bucket bags appear in leather with graphics or monograms and metal handles. The crocodile bags are printed in tie-dye and rubberized, while the tapestry bags take up the 19th century floral motif from the collection and have a camouflage effect. Handcrafted jewelry in enamel, rhinestones, hand-cut stones, and metal mixes animal motifs, utensils, and pipes on Cuban chains; Running Man and mushroom pendants appear on multicolored chains; spiders and cobwebs feature in palladium earrings, large earrings are covered in crystals, repeated in earrings and royal rings; and the LV Storm monogram surrounds the house’s metal logo in enamel clouds.
As for shoes, baroque ankle boots come in two styles, created in the tapestries of the collection and entirely enhanced by hand with embroidery and pearls. Baroque boots hybridize formal and combative codes, manifesting themselves in rangers, chelsea boots and derbies. The LV Trainer 2 is a new basketball sneaker featuring nubuck or nappa leather with neoprene detailing, and comes in six color options. The LV Trainer evolves in new variations such as high and low shoes in technical materials, plastic and embossed neoprene, as well as the fabrics of the collection.
Along with the runway, the notes it contains represent Abloh’s creative process exploring the Fall/Winter 2022 collection. “I believe in nuance because I believe in the intelligence and insight of my audience,” said Abloh in July 2020, which is included in the show’s notes. “As I go on and continue to imbue my vision with black aesthetics and inclusivity, I will never underestimate them. Through my own reality, I am interested in reversing the expected roles of races within society, and the discourse it engenders. I am interested in contributing to the progression of fashion’s relationship with labels and stereotypes: “designer” versus “image maker”, “luxury” versus “streetwear,” or the nuanced idea of streetwear versus “streetwear” itself. In my quotes game, streetwear is a subculture-based community, while “streetwear” is a commodity-based the fashion. ”
While Fall/Winter 22 offers a final glimpse of the Abloh-designed collection, the late designer’s artistry and vision will remain timeless.
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