There’s a fashion show and then there’s a show with fashion elements incorporated into it. The Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2023 menswear runway show felt like the latter.
With still a rudderless division of the Louis Vuitton universe, the show and collection was a collaborative effort—creative directed by Colm Dillane of niche studio Kid Super, styled by longtime Virgil Abloh collaborator Ibrahim Kamara, scored and performed by Rosalía, and more. Yet, what seemed familiar were the traces of the late Abloh-designed Louis Vuitton in an overarching childhood theme as well as designs.
The Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2023 menswear show opened with a filmed into that depicted an evolution of a boy to a young man, with key life highlights being thrown and saved into the collection’s Keepall. The show set echoed the storyline with different rooms meant to represent different stages of growing up.
Rosalía performed throughout the entirety of the show. And while it wasn’t the first time that Louis Vuitton had a live performer during a show, this time, the fashion felt as though it faded into the background in the midst of quite a manic set. Don’t get me wrong; the performance was electric and the set design was spectacular. But if the idea was to be disruptive—a collaboratively designed collection instead of one where there was a central figurehead—it did personally took away from the entire collection and instead felt like a Rosalía concert.
But nonetheless, the autumn/winter 2023 menswear collection was a more cohesive effort as compared to the spring/summer 2023 outing. Everything seemed a bit more intentional with pieces that looked a bit more well edited.
Tailoring was crisp and modern, accented beautifully by a studied use of accessories to punctuate monochromatic styling. There was an effort to have real-world applications instead of more avant-garde treatments, yet filled with enough creative liberties that created quite a versatile collection.
I do have to point out that the Épi leather accessories for the collection (looks 6, 11 and 18) were a breakthrough for me. I’ve always found that the leather treatment felt a bit dated but this particular collection found use for it through more contemporary and desirable silhouettes. For example, look 6’s twisted top-handle satchel bag was a beautiful interpretation of a classic shape but given a breath of fresh air, and rendered in a bold apple green colour.
The season’s interpretations of the Keepall too were something to behold. Special mention goes to the opening look that featured a palladium version that looked as though it was blown up and about to burst. Stunning.
It’s tough to say if this collaborative concept would be continuing on for Louis Vuitton’s menswear division. If it did, it wouldn’t be that horrible of an idea.
View the full Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2023 menswear collection in the gallery below.
