Typically speaking, runway shows are about the clothes. Yet Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2022 runway show felt like something a whole lot bigger. On an emotional evening in Miami, friends, colleagues, and family paid tribute to Virgil Abloh, bringing the curtain down on a stellar career and even greater person.
Virgil tragically passed away on Sunday, but as is typical of the man, he appeared to be creating right until the very end. Posting on Instagram, Vogue writer and collaborator Anders Christian Madsen revealed how they had been texting on Saturday night, putting the final touches to the show notes.
The event opened with Virgil talking about a return “to childhood wonderment" — a repeating red hot air balloon motif interpreted by some as a metaphor for ascension to the afterlife — and ended with another soundbite:
Life is so short that you can't even waste a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do, versus what you can do.
Watching videos of the closing fireworks, there's a kind of mesmerizing emotional finality to it all. It's easy to be skeptical when people talk, often euphemistically, of "celebrating" a life — particularly when it's concerning someone taken so cruelly at such a young age — but it's certainly applicable in this instance. Virgil was here, he achieved so much, and the world is a better place because of him. His is a legacy that will echo down the ages.
A bonafide moment in fashion history, people around the world tuned in to say their goodbyes. See some highlights and reactions below.
