Louis Vuitton keeps spreading the good word of Virgil Abloh. The luxury house's first Spring/Summer 2023 spin-off show, held in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao, picks up right where it left off back in June, when LV debuted its first menswear collection mostly lacking Abloh's touch.
Firstly, to be specific: Louis Vuitton took to Aranya, an exclusive beachside community. There, it built a massive sandbox-inspired set that reflects Abloh's inimitable sense of branding, shaping humanoid sculptures that recalled the giant figures he once used to market Louis Vuitton collections.
It's now up to the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme (its name for the in-house menswear design team) to design mainline collections, at least until LV inevitably announces its new artistic or creative director.
Note that, like previous spin-off shows, LV's latest presentation retreads most of the same stuff we saw at prior runways. So its show in Aranya presents much of the same SS23 fare we witnessed in Paris, including the giant, show-stopping speaker backpacks.
We elected to avoid retreading coverage of the near-identical outfits you've already seen in favor of recapping the few new looks on display this go-round, which apparently total 11 according to the latest count from LV itself.
No Air Force 1s but there are — deep breath — new iterations of the Trainer 2, skate decks, statement backpacks , rainbow-printed denim sets, mesh shirts, varsity jackets, and jeans that are literally wavy, finished with wobbly seams that warp their silhouette.
If you're familiar with Abloh's vision for Louis Vuitton, you know what you're getting.
His LV output was so far-reaching that hardly any stylistic cue was left unturned, giving his design team the freedom to not only pick up the pieces but push beyond, exploring intarsia-knit palm trees and bunny-eared beanies.
There's really no such thing as "too far" for LV menswear right now, which is still as hot as it's ever been. Whoever comes next has truly massive shoes to fill.
