The first Black artistic director for Louis Vuitton and founder of Off-White, Virgil Abloh, 41, passed away Sunday, November 28th from a rare form of cancer. Abloh battled this cancer privately since his diagnosis in 2019. The impact he made in fashion and in music, specifically in hip-hop music will live on forever, Virgil left a mark in our culture that can never be erased.
Just a couple of days ahead of Miami’s Art Basel, Virgil Abloh’s final show with Louis Vuitton was held on Tuesday night (November 30th) in Miami’s Maritime Marina. The presentation of Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2022 menswear collection Abloh had planned before his passing was thought to be cancelled due to the tragedy but Louis Vuitton stated that it was per Virgil’s request that the show go on. How the show was originally imagined we may never know as it became a celebration of the designers’ life.
To start the show a video of a young Black boy riding a bike through the streets of Miami then going up levels of a parking garage with a visible red arrow pointing up giving him the direction of which to go then ending up on a beach he starts to give up on finding what he’s looking for but, then he looks around to see his destination in the distance, he gets back on his bike and arrives in front of a red Louis Vuitton hot air ballon, the young boy runs fast to hop on and take flight up, up, and away. This eerily could’ve been made after Abloh’s passing, representing him going up to the heavens although not the message of the video. When it cuts you hear Virgil’s voice come in saying, “I’ve been on this focus, in terms of my art and creativity, of getting adults to behave like children again. That they go back into this sense of wonderment. They start to stop using their mind, and they start using their imagination.”
Watch “Virgil Was Here”, the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022 menswear show below.
A statue of Virgil Abloh stood between the show and post show concert venue and looked at the L.V logoed hot-air balloon. But, that wasn’t the only spectacular honorary part of the night. An animated light show in the sky happened with “Virgil was here” spelled out lighting up the sky.
The fashion was colorful and bold just as Virgil’s designs always are. Not only was the audience star-studded with attendance from Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian with their eldest daughter North, Pharrell, and more but the runway was as well with walks from Offset, Quavo, and Kid Cudi.
Photo: Isidore Montag / Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Photo: Isidore Montag / Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Photo: Isidore Montag / Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Hip-Hop artists Gunna, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Kanye West, and producer Metro Boomin’ in attendance at Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2022 menswear show in Miami.
