Exclusive: Abloh Said In Line for Men’s at Vuitton
The founder of Off-White is a serial collaborator and a leading figure on the burgeoning streetwear scene.
PARIS — Adding yet more heat to its men’s fashion activities, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has snared red-hot designer Virgil Abloh to lead men’s design at Louis Vuitton, WWD has learned.
According to market sources, Off-White’s founder is to succeed Kim Jones in the role and show his first collection in June during Men’s Fashion Week in the French capital.
An official announcement is expected as early as today.
Earlier this month, Dior Homme named Jones its new artistic director effective April 1, six weeks after he wound up a seven-year stint at Vuitton. The two moves thrust to the forefront two marquee designers that straddle the luxury world and the explosive streetwear scene.
Jones won particular acclaim for a
2017 collaboration between Vuitton and Supreme, while Abloh created some of the most coveted sneakers in recent history with his “Ten” designs for Nike, including an Air Jordan 1 interpretation that topped many year-end rankings. A pair currently commands as much as $2,000 from after-market sellers.
Almost frenetic with his design collaborations, Abloh has teamed with a broad spectrum of brands, from Ikea and Byredo to Jimmy Choo, Warby Parker, Moncler, Umbro and Sunglass Hut. Yet to be unveiled is a tie-up with elite luggage-maker Rimowa, also controlled by LVMH.
With his clutch of famous friends and 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Abloh is sure to bring additional buzz and attention to Vuitton, which has enjoyed steady growth in recent years as Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections, brought a more youthful, modernist elan to its fashions, leather goods and communications.
In an interview last year at ComplexCon, Abloh mused on the philosophy behind his brand, Off-White.
“I can never forget my design premise. It’s in-between two things. So if I like high fashion and I like streetwear, Off-White is a reminder to be in the middle. I don’t have to choose between high fashion or streetwear. My brand reminds me that it doesn’t have to fit in a box. It can just be in a gray area,” he said.
Abloh is also an in-demand DJ, spinning this past weekend at Schimanski in Brooklyn, two days after playing a set in Miami Beach alongside Pete Tong and The Martinez Brothers.
Launched online in late 2013, OffWhite held its first showroom presentation in Paris the following January with designs that merged influences ranging from Bauhaus to sports apparel and Caravaggio. It established the brand signifier: thick diagonal stripes that have become a byword for insider cool. Eighteen months later, Abloh expanded into women’s wear and staged his first runway show.
The brand made it onto the shortlist of the 2015 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, crystallizing the advent of streetwear as a credible challenger to the luxury status quo, and cementing close ties to the French luxury group.
Trained as an engineer and architect, Abloh rose to prominence as a DJ, cofounder of concept store RSVP Gallery in his hometown of Chicago, and creative director for Kanye West. He made his fashion debut in 2012 with the launch of Pyrex Vision, a short-lived label that spawned a following among streetwear aficionados.
“Back then, there was no ambition to be a fashion designer. I think my original ambition was to be an artist,” Abloh said in a 2016 interview. “I’d worked in a collaborative space, never had creative control to the final end, so with Pyrex Vision, the idea was to make a film. And in order to make the film, I needed to make these clothes.”
His rise to prominence coincided with peers such as Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, Shayne Oliver and Gosha Rubchinskiy — a group linked by their integration of web culture, art, street fashion and luxury codes.
“You know my style of clothing is basically a discourse between me and the kids. That’s what the premise of the brand is,” he told WWD in 2016. “We’re talking straight to the market. But I believe in the romantic interchange between intellectuals about fashion.”
Off-White belongs to New Guards
Group, the Milan-based company that produces and distributes Marcelo Burlon County of Milan, Palm Angels, Unravel and United Standard.
LVMH is putting major muscle behind men’s wear, having lured Hedi Slimane back to the group to take over Céline and extend that 73-year- old brand into men’s wear for the first time. His first show is expected during Paris Fashion Week in the fall. (Slimane made a name for himself at Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche in the late Nineties before joining Dior to conceive Dior Homme. He subsequently returned to YSL, rechristening it Saint Laurent, for a four-year stint that ended in April 2016.)
LVMH has also been investing heavily in Berluti, now under the design leadership of Haider Ackermann, and Loro Piana, embarking on a growth phase under a new chief executive officer.
At Dior Homme, Jones succeeds and LVMH said Kris Van Assche, primarily a men’s designer, would take up a new assignment within the group.
Dior, Vuitton and Kenzo are among LVMH brands that continue to stage shows during men’s fashion week, while rival group Kering has gone the coed route with most of its banners, including Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta.
Before Jones, Dutch designer Paul Helbers headed Vuitton men’s wear for five years.