Highsnobiety
Getty Images / Ken Ishii for Louis Vuitton

Following recent allegations by Walter van Beirendonck of Virgil Abloh copying the Belgian designer's recognizable design aesthetic of wearable toys, Abloh today indirectly fired back at his latest Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2021 menswear show which was held in Tokyo.

At the show, part of his "international tour" to challenge the current fashion system, Abloh sent out a model who halfway down the runway started unpacking a crate that as seen on a video published by Louis Vuitton on its Instagram, had been sent all the way to Tokyo from Louis Vuitton's Paris archive. In it was a LV-monogrammed "Doudou" teddy bear – originally designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton in 2005 in partnership with German toy company Steiff – as if to challenge the recent accusations and remind his critics that referencing and remixing has always been a part of his design language.

Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.

In the show's manifesto, Abloh also added another explanation, recounting how he was in a Parisian toy store shopping for his children, when he “caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, his pockets stuffed with puppets of all shapes and colors. They made him think of the "carved masks, figurines and dolls he knew from Ghana, and the Maroquinaris Zoologicae series of small leather goods created for the house by Billie Achilleos in 2011."

The choice to show in Tokyo aligns with the opening of the brand's first-ever standalone menswear store in Shibuya and Abloh’s collaboration with Nigo. Titled "Message in a Bottle," the collection included 59 new looks exclusively for the Tokyo show including slender suiting, checkerboard patterning, Ghanaian flag-inspired sweaters, balaclavas, inflatable outerwear, and a reveal of 12 new LV x Nigo pieces.

In order to inject some sustainability into Louis Vuitton's fashion business, the collection contained 25 looks made from recycled materials, and 70 looks from the previous collection in Shanghai, re-shown. To quote Abloh, "No season is an old season. In a fast-paced and fleeting time, repetition equals documentation: gestures made and lessons learned." Among the socially distanced spectators was Takashi Murakami, AMBUSH founder Yoon Ahn and her business partner and DJ Verbal. Alongside them many members of the general public, who watched models walk the new pieces in a freestyle formation to music curated by Benji B with an overlay of a poem written and read by Caleb Femi.

Getty Images / Ken Ishii for Louis Vuitton

Similar to the last show, there were giant inflatable characters animating the garments and crouching like sprites on the backs of models, dangling next to shipping containers on the Tokyo dock. These characters, first seen in the short movie ‘The adventures of Zoooom with friends", are inspired by people from Abloh's life – notably those who accompanied him on his journey with Louis Vuitton. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume one is based on Kanye West.

The show notes (which at 81 pages reads more like a manifesto) points to Abloh's uncharacteristic state of inertia as an entry point into thinking about his Ghanian roots to inspire the colors, shapes, and motifs in the collection.

"[Abloh] spent this time around his mother and father saturated in his Ghanaian heritage and childhood memories. He decided that moving forward, the creative premises of his work at Louis Vuitton would spring directly from his cultural heritage", the show notes state, "his work would visualize unapologetic Black Imagination in an autobiographical and deeply personal voice. A second generation African-American, Abloh’s Ghanaian-born parents draped his childhood in a cultural tapestry of Kente cloth, hand-carved figurines, wooden masks, and the iconography of spirituality."

The collection's most memorable component, teddy bear aside, was a psychedelic black-and-white checkerboard pattern that appeared on trousers, jackets, and suiting, was defined by Abloh in the show's accompanying glossary as "a pattern of infinite congruent squares... adopted by the Two-Tone scene of 1980s’ London as an illustration of its harmonious clash between Jamaican music and British subculture. Also: a conventional symbol of game, triumph and authority. When skewed, swirled or distorted, the rules of the conventional game change."

Some of the finesse from Spring/Summer 2021 is already becoming overshadowed on social media by the ongoing Van Beirendonck dispute. Yet #teddygate should not shy away from the fact that the fashion collection itself was arguably one of his strongest yet. Abloh is only starting to build out his narrative at Louis Vuitton; one of hybridization, rule-bending, and disruption. Plagiarism or not, it's something to keep a closer eye on.

Watch the full show below.

Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this YouTube video.
We Recommend
  • How NBA Tunnel Fits Pushed Beyond The NBA And Hip-Hop Narrative
    • Culture
  • 25 Streetwear Brands Every Highsnobiety Reader Should Know & Where To Buy Them
    • Style
  • Luxury Brands Every Highsnobiety Reader Should Know & Where To Buy Them
    • Style
  • 2023's Defining Fashion Pieces, From Ballet Flats to Bayonetta Glasses
    • Style
  • Pharrell's Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2024 Runway Made Hong Kong (More) Tropical
    • Style
What To Read Next
  • Veja's New Running Shoe Is a Surprisingly Slick Crossover Sneaker
    • Sneakers
  • The Trader Joes Tote Bag Is No Stanley Cup
    • Style
  • Ghettotech, Bootytech, Sextech, meet the Detroit trio HiTech
    • Culture
  • Kendall Jenner in Business Bottega Is Best-Dressed Material
    • Style
  • 2024, the Year of the Beautiful Celeb Couple
    • Culture
  • A Love Letter to Ferrari's IYKYK Super Car
    • Culture
*If you submitted your e-mail address and placed an order, we may use your e-mail address to inform you regularly about similar products without prior explicit consent. You can object to the use of your e-mail address for this purpose at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs. Each newsletter contains an unsubscribe link. Alternatively, you can object to receiving the newsletter at any time by sending an e-mail to info@highsnobiety.com

Web Accessibility Statement

Titel Media GmbH (Highsnobiety), is committed to facilitating and improving the accessibility and usability of its Website, www.highsnobiety.com. Titel Media GmbH strives to ensure that its Website services and content are accessible to persons with disabilities including users of screen reader technology. To accomplish this, Titel Media GmbH tests, remediates and maintains the Website in-line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which also bring the Website into conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that our efforts to maintain accessibility and usability are ongoing. While we strive to make the Website as accessible as possible some issues can be encountered by different assistive technology as the range of assistive technology is wide and varied.

Contact Us

If, at any time, you have specific questions or concerns about the accessibility of any particular webpage on this Website, please contact us at accessibility@highsnobiety.com, +49 (0)30 235 908 500. If you do encounter an accessibility issue, please be sure to specify the web page and nature of the issue in your email and/or phone call, and we will make all reasonable efforts to make that page or the information contained therein accessible for you.