What is Off-White™ without Virgil Abloh? It's the biggest question that the industry silently posed to new creative director Ibrahim Kamara, perhaps unfairly — those are massive shoes to fill. But Kamara's debut Off-White™ collection, unveiled during Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2023 on September 29, is a worthy transition.
"Off–White™ belonged to the culture as much as it was Virgil’s own, and over the decade since its founding, it has defined an era," the brand said in its SS23 show notes. "This collection is a celebration of that alongside our freedom to dream, create, and choose. As it happens, tomorrow will mark Virgil’s 42nd birthday; this is a real celebration of our founder and all of his life’s work."
"To start, this is not the end, and today we celebrate new work in process."
That means house codes reborn anew and everything drenched in blue, the color of loyalty and freedom and a hue that may birth a new Off-White™ signature, right up there with the quotation marks and striped logo.
From Off-White™'s signature Jitney handbag to puffer jackets dangling with loose threads, everything was utterly saturated in what we'll one day be calling Off-White™ Blue, according to the brand (this was a Kamara invention). No new Nikes here, mind you, but plenty of cool-hued sneakers amidst the leather shoes and moto boots.
Anything that wasn't blue was monochrome black and white, a pared-back color palette that gently jars against the evocative title of Off-White™'s SS23 collection: "CELEBRATION."
However, that simplified aesthetic also serves to anchor the floral motif that plays throughout, itself inspired by the SS23 Off-White™ staff shirts co-created with one of Abloh's favorite artists, Jenny Holzer.
Her inimitable work from 1986, Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise, is reborn as Abuse of Flower Comes as No Surprise for multiple reasons.
One on hand, Off-White™ is undergoing renewal, much like flowers do every warm weather season. On the other, the design team envisioned this partnership as a response to the American Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
"Even when dreaming up new worlds, we must speak about the harsh realities of our present everyday lives," Off-White™ says, and it's combatting that harsh reality with a charitable bent: partial proceeds from the staff shirt sales will benefit Planned Parenthood.
It's a small but important action, one that reflects Abloh's personal investment in the luxury label he founded, indicative that Off-White™ wouldn't be Off-White™ as we know it without Virgil Abloh.
However, yes, Abloh's legacy is inextricably intertwined with Off-White™, but the future is Kamara's to write. Clearly, there can, and will, be acknowledgement of the man who paved the path even as the next generation continues blazing its own trail, just as Abloh would've intended.
