If Virgil Abloh was feeling nervous on Tuesday in Paris, he didn’t show it. A day away from making his Louis Vuitton debut as artistic director, the American fashion designer said he was feeling “surprisingly energised” as he unveiled the SS19 collection for his own brand, Off-White.
“Jim Stark” read the invitation to the show, a reference to James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause and a savvy reminder that Abloh is currently fashion’s favourite disruptor. As such, the collection was denim-heavy; all cut up and remastered. “All of us have a pair of jeans in our closet – what can we do to make them feel new and considered?” he asked, much like the accompanying playlist.
It also featured theKraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express and a chopped version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas – another reminder that Abloh is an accomplished DJ and designers don’t just do one thing these days. Alongside jeans came the Off-White staple, the logo T-shirt, many of which were emblazoned with the face of another iconic provocateur, Bart Simpson.
“Yeah, the rebel without a cause! Bart Simpson is the face of that spirit – ‘I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?!’” he laughed, describing this show as “an ode to the teenager”. This was rooted in an appreciation of Abloh’s hero growing up: the pioneering New York graffiti artist Dondi White (whose name was also written on some of those white T-shirts). “I didn’t go to art school – I learned from Dondi. I was retracing the sketchbook and these New York City trains that he were painting with Prismacolor markers.” The hand-painted coats in the collection were a reflection of this inspiration.
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