Virgil Abloh may no longer be with us but his spirit lives on, especially with his creative team at Louis Vuitton. For the Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2023 menswear collection (the first collection presented without Abloh), it was a spectacle of epic proportions.
Conceived and created by the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme, the offering is a magnificent display of Abloh’s legacy. Set at the forecourt of the Louvre, the collection started with a short film, followed by a parade led by The Marching 100, the Tallahassee-based marching band of the Florida A&M University formed in 1946, followed by a performance by American musician Kendrick Lamar.
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With the concept of “play” as the main inspiration for this collection, even the vibrant yellow runway was constructed to resemble a child’s train set.
As for the clothes, French romanticism fills the collection with impressionist paintings of thistles — found abundantly at the ancestral home of Louis Vuitton in Asnières — that is liberally imagined on everything, from belt buckles to bomber jackets.
Elsewhere, a montage of the house’s Damier motif, the city of Paris as well as delicate floral paintings embellish leather tailoring and bags.
Scroll to see more from the collection.