The fashion world suffered a great loss with the passing of multi-hyphenate Virgil Abloh on 28 November 2021. Not only was he the steward of his own brand Off-White, Abloh was also the former Louis Vuitton men’s artistic director who caused a cultural reset in luxury fashion with his appointment.
Abloh’s masterful (and seemingly organic) way of incorporating Black and street references into such a storied maison — of which he was the first Black artistic director ever appointed — defied traditional luxury fashion norms. Till now, there still is a gap that’s yet to be filled in Louis Vuitton‘s menswear division. And clearly, it’s a monumental task.
If the Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2023 menswear collection was wholly designed by the maison’s in-house design team, its pre-spring 2023 menswear collection was actually conceptualised by Abloh himself before he passed. It was then the design team that was left to execute that vision.
Part of the pre-spring 2023 menswear collection is a capsule that’s called ‘Fall In Love’. The main collection delves into Abloh’s fascination with boyhood — a recurring theme throughout his collections for Louis Vuitton — and focuses on the musical aspect of it. ‘Fall In Love’ takes it a step further and zeroes in on a specific cultural moment.
What was initially conceived as a way of making rent in 1970s New York City, the Loft parties organised by then 25-year-old David Mancuso, were a cult hit. They became the launchpad for a diverse range of DJs and an even more progressive offshoot of dance culture. ‘Fall In Love’ explores the era through a design lens — diving into the relationship between DJ-ing and design.
The result is a collection that feels thoroughly Abloh in terms of aesthetic, deftly mixing tailoring with the ease and comfort of 1970s-style silhouettes. Leather and suede jackets dress up simple graphic shirts, while b-boy slants are apparent in coordinated ensembles.
And of course, there’s no Louis Vuitton collection complete without the inclusion of some of the maison’s classics. The Christopher backpack and Keepall are decorated in the iconic Monogram and each topped off with a patch leather badge logo.
View the Louis Vuitton ‘Fall In Love’ capsule collection in the gallery below.
The ‘Fall In Love’ capsule collection is set to drop on 15 September 2022.
