Virgil Abloh's final Louis Vuitton runway show certainly deserves more than one look.
That's the sentiment that the luxury house itself put forth, at least, and we agree, if only to see Tyler, the Creator, who oversaw the show's soundtrack, gleefully gliding across the set on a monogrammed bicycle.
After the first presentation of Abloh's Fall/Winter 2022 LV menswear collection in the early afternoon of January 20, the French house hosted a second showing later in the day, reaffirming its deep admiration for its late artistic director.
All of the same looks and garments were shown, reiterating the high-volume statement pieces and shedding new light on more subtle bits that may have escaped notice the first go-round.
It became more apparent, for instance, how often Abloh made use of those jubilant floral patterns in the FW22, revealing the vivid print to be infused into jackets, shirts, and panels of wide-legged jeans.
Welcome revelations like these only make you appreciate the affair that much more.
Doubly so when you go back to Abloh's first Louis Vuitton show — not that this last show is better, per se, but it really underscores the growth that Abloh and his team undertook over the past three years (has it only been three years?!).
Nuances now familiar seemed so alien back then, even though we hadn't even witnessed Abloh's hat fixation or his playful post-workwear riffs.
Louis Vuitton FW22 wasn't Abloh going full-circle, though. Abloh didn't design like that, with logical stops and starts.
Like the staircase that models trekked up during the Louis Vuitton FW22 presentation, Abloh's practice only swelled over time, incorporating new inspirations, inclinations, ideas.
Though the collection was partially completed by Abloh's remaining LV creative team, it still speaks to the far-flung reaches of his imagination. Even with this last offering, we can still tell that Abloh was still growing as a designer.
Just look down for proof.
There were a couple new kicks on the runway, including a very throwback basketball sneaker called the LV Trainer 2.
It seemingly hybridized '90s basketball sneakers like Ewings and the Air Jordan 8, taking on a silhouette not entirely dissimilar to the "408" sneaker that Abloh initially revealed after joining the house.
Full circle? No, new beginnings.
