Virgil Abloh considered his fall collection to be a very important one for him, a turning point in his four-year-old label. “My brand feels like it’s starting from zero, which is great,” he said before the show. Reading between the lines, it felt like he’s eager to graduate from his streetwear designer/collaborator of Kanye West image.
Abloh is earnest, ambitious and still learning — all of which was reflected in the show. It was elaborately staged, set with smoky light, dried leaves and birch trees suspended from the ceiling, their barren branches swinging a little too close to some attendees’ eyes. The spooky forest added atmosphere, though it was unclear what it had to do with the collection. Abloh has many ideas yet, at times, struggles to connect the dots.
To that end, the clothes were a manifestation of his intense meditation on the phrase “Nothing New.” Backstage, Abloh unloaded a stream of consciousness-style analysis of the notion that fashion is driven by newness. “As creative critics, we all use ‘Is it new? Is it not?’ to define something, but usually it’s just a phrase,” he said. “An invention is what I think is something new.” Instead of striving to invent the fifth element
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