On January 20, local time, Louis Vuitton's Fall/Winter 2022 menswear collection kicked off the overture at the Paris Temple Market.
This was the last collection by menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh, who had completed 95 percent of the creations of the collection before his death.
The color scheme of the invitation letter of the fashion show uses a beautiful sunset gradient, and the woodpecker ornament borrows the spirit of the woodpecker to convey the determination and perseverance of the brand.
Directly above the invitation is a very eye-catching number "8", it is not difficult to guess that this is the hidden password of this big show!
via: Zhu Yilong Weibo
As the show begins, so does the secret of "8".
The Fall/Winter 2022 menswear collection is the eighth chapter led by Menswear Artistic Director Virgil Abloh.
Themed after the Louis Dreamhouse, Virgil turned the Paris Temple Market into a fairy tale dream factory.
It's not so much a fashion show as it is a grand art show.
67 models, 20 dancers and an orchestra came together for a multi-layered performance.
At the beginning of the show, the dancers jumped back and forth on the stairs, playful and happy like us who jumped up and down on the roof when we were children.
On one side of the hall sits a long "dining table" where musicians from the Chineke Symphony Orchestra play works by Tyler the Creator.
The hour hand stops at eight o'clock and the catwalk officially begins.
Humor is an entry point for humanity.
——Virgil Abloh
Childhood magic
Caleb Femi kicked off the big show with a film that revolves around a story about a little boy growing up.
Virgil brings the core of Boyhood Ideology into a design philosophy: seeing the world through the pure eyes of a child.
Adult society is full of "high or low", "black or white", "masculine or feminine", but children's minds are unrestricted and unbiased.
Virgil tries to combine fashion with reality, using seemingly unruly fashions such as men's veils and hook skirts to change the prejudices of the adult world.
Custom clothing, sportswear, and skirts are reinterpreted in collages, which is also Virgil's intention to change the dress code related to social archetypes.
Interestingly, many cartoon motifs such as magician motifs, animal elements, and clouds also appear in this autumn and winter series, and the signs belonging to childhood are all at a glance.
"Grim Reaper" represents Virgil Abloh's gaze on his own death, which is also a stunning detail to look at now.
Seemingly incompatible with childhood, Virgil Abloh makes its existence rational in the form of cartoons.
The white-clad angels with wings on their backs and the finale appear like children's reassurance pills, suggesting that all kinds of unrealistic fantasies are guarded by them.
But now it seems that the angel's role is more like a farewell that Virgil has designed for himself.
Artistic inspiration
Incorporating art into design is a common use of Virgil Abloh to express the uniqueness of clothing.
Virgil Abloh paid tribute to a painting by realist painter Gustave Courbet in his Spring '19 ad, "The Painter's Studio."
《ThePainter's Studio》Gustave Courbet 1855年
Louis Vuitton's Spring /Summer '19 advertising campaign
In this series, the work is reinterpreted.
Virgil Abloh displays his paintings on clothing in the form of jacquard knitting and printed patterns, embodying the elegance of fashion.
Paintings by another surrealist artist, Giorgio de Chirico, have appeared several times in the works of Off-White.
His work "Souvenir d'Italie" was also used in Louis Vuitton's autumn/winter collection.
《Souvenir of Italy》 Giorgio de Chirico 1914年
The presence of the painting in the series is itself a ready-made work, reflecting virgil's repeatedly deliberate creative topics, sources, references, and self-references.
Funky accessories
Last year's explosive Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force cooperation sneakers, this series launched a 2.0 version.
The appearance of many new colors and patterns such as sky blue, light pink, embroidery, beads and so on makes people shine, look good and easy to match.
The boots are not only decorated with a variety of colors, but also feature a carefully carved midsole, which fully demonstrates the exquisite craftsmanship of the haute couture house.
The handbags that Fashion Essence pays the most attention to have also ushered in a major change in the new season.
The colorful flowers are combined with the Monogram print handbag, as if unlocking a new way to open the handbag, anyone who wants to see it a few more times!
Monogram prints have been applied to handbags many times, and handbags have changed into various shapes, which are trendy and attractive!
On the Keepalls handbag, translucent and classic brown plaid collide, and the cutout visual effect allows the transparent elements to be reinterpreted.
The surface of the classic handbag has added a lot of cute, chic little badges, which echo the childhood theme of this collection.
Want a classic and distinctive handbag?
A new batch of materials is coming to you, quilts, sequins, crocodile skins... There's always something to suit your tastes.
Virgil once said, "Everything I did was for my 17-year-old self, when I was convinced that the power of art could change everything." ”
In the final series, Virgil Abloh continued to break the old rules of the fashion world and continue to bring street style and youthful elements into the world of luxury.
After the big show, who will succeed Virgil Abloh as Louis Vuitton's new menswear creative director has become the most concerned topic.
In this regard, Michael Burke, CEO of Louis Vuitton, said in an interview: LVMH is not in a hurry, and Louis Vuitton's design team is strong enough to continue to operate for a period of time.
But whoever becomes the next creative director can't erase Virgil Abloh's efforts to "change the direction of the tide," and that influence continues to this day...