The Louis Vuitton Men’s spring 2019 collection, Virgil Abloh’s very first for the brand as its new innovative director of menswear, will be questionable by the extremely truth of who Abloh is as a designer: he’s gifted at translating patterns as well as influences, fusing low as well as high, as well as discovering a method to equate longstanding high-end signatures for a young, internet-savvy audience. For a great deal of older as well as more established high-end shoppers, those strengths are commonly interpreted less positively: pandering to trends, copying, cheapening the brands they love, shifting focus away from them to people who they think, frankly, haven’t earned it. The truth of Abloh’s work, as well as of his very first LV collection, is somewhere in the middle.
Both the show as well as the collection were joyful as well as multicolored, with a forever-long rainbow runway as well as bags that ranged from pure white to near-neon red as well as iridescent PVC. The see-through Keepalls are a great deal of fun however look affordable as well as definitely won’t be, as well as refinement in completing is something Abloh has needed to step up for a while. I don’t question that he will at Louis Vuitton, though, with the company’s enormous resources as well as vast personnel at his disposal. (And, of course, with LVMH executives looking over his shoulder.) as well as a few of his influences come with with as well bit “interpretation,” especially in some garments that showed indications of now-defunct new York brand Hood By Air.
Some of Abloh’s detractors, though, may be surprised by other parts of the collection. His leather bags were largely both loyal to Louis Vuitton custom as well as extremely expensive-looking, with a flourish right here as well as there to suggest the guard had nevertheless altered since last season. My preferred touches were the grenade-pin closures, fastened to bags with chains. It took my brain a moment to settle on what they were, which is the precise level of cleverness I like in a detail. It likewise handles to be clever without being cutesy, which is a tone that women’s designers in general might try a bit harder to strike in these situations.
Overall, the collection seems like it will be a consumer hit, as well as it makes me look ahead to what else he’ll do with the brand.
[Photos via vogue Russia]