The invitation for Off-White’s men’s show in Paris read “Business Casual,” but dress codes are never quite what they seem in Virgil Abloh’s world.
He treated the concept as a jumping-off point for a riff on late Eighties and early Nineties references — the era when, as a high school student, he fantasized about what his life as an adult might look like. “My future was like: white picket fence, a dog. I thought I might be carrying a briefcase,” the designer said backstage.
As we all know, that didn’t quite work out for the man who gained fame as Kanye West’s creative director. Yet, as he and his fellow streetwear designers tighten their grip on men’s wear, Abloh likes to imagine how a new generation of business leaders might dress.
His fall lineup opened with his take on a gray pinstriped suit: Its boxy jacket cropped to reveal an embroidered logo over one hip, it was paired with a gray sweatshirt and beige suede boots. A glazed denim version featured a white spray-painted lapel, in a wry meeting of skateboarding and boardroom cultures.
In step with Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia, who paid homage to corporate codes with his fall 2017 collection, Abloh
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