Virgil's Vuitton debut felt like seeing fashion change

Virgil Abloh

Virgil Abloh didn’t fail. You could tell that some people wanted him to, that they were hoping his debut collection as artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear would be a bust. That wasn’t what happened, though – his first show was good. The atmosphere, as the sun beat down onto the rainbow runway, was incredible. The collection had a message which tied the house’s travel history with the present. The show had one of the best, most authentically diverse menswear castings I’ve ever seen on a runway – with maps on every seat detailing the birthplace of each model and of their parents. And, despite the predictions of the naysayers, it was not just a line of printed t-shirts – Abloh presented a refined collection of luxurious yet modern menswear.

Not that there weren’t any t-shirts – as well as those provided as mementos for each of the guests, about a thousand of them were to be found on the backs of students, most looking to be in their late teens, who stood either side of the single row runway to watch the show. Their excitement was palpable – can you imagine being invited to a Louis Vuitton show, let alone this Louis Vuitton show, as a teenager? On the t-shirts was a photocopied image of Abloh’s new business card, with handwritten words commenting on how “surreal” it is, as well as what appeared to be his actual phone number.

As we all know by now, Virgil Abloh did not take a traditional route into fashion. He did not go to CSM and work in-house at a big brand, before starting out on his own. Whatever you want to make of his relationship with Kanye, he’s a self-made phenomenon with an infamous work ethic. In an Instagram caption accompanying a picture of himself on the runway for the finale, Abloh posted five simple words, “you can do it too”, daring others to dream like he did. This is not a man who thinks fashion is for a select few – this is a man who knows what it feels like to not get into shows, to be an outsider. This is a man who, when he started showing in Paris, posted pictures of his own Off-White invitations on Instagram and encouraged members of the public to turn up. The A-Z provided on each seat with a glossary of Ablohisms began with ‘after party’, saying that it was a gathering “intended for industry guests but made great by the civilian fans of the brand in question.”

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