During his eight collection residency , Virgil Abloh turned the house of Louis Vuitton upside down and inside out . He made the exclusive inclusive . This afternoon in Paris apparently marked the final collection of that arc , and in the set at least it appeared to come full circle . The collection was named Louis Dreamhouse , and around the runway were scattered the upended elements of a house that had been hit by some enormous force of energy now spent .
In one corner was a staircase ( nodding to The Truman Show set of season 4 ), from which some opening dancers , after some apparent security issue had been resolved , bounced up and down on hidden trampolines . An empty bed rested alongside the roof and chimney , from which a homey puff of steam emerged . On the other side of the roof was a long dining table , down which sat the Chineke ! Orchestra musicians whose performance of a Tyler the Creator-composed piece contributed swooningly to making the show so moving . On the wall above them a stopped clock read the time as eight , on the dot .
Get 1 year of American Vogue + a limited edition tote . Subscribe now . The collection unfolded on 20 dancers and 67 models . Abloh ’ s great gift as both designer and lightning rod — masterfully to navigate an elusive commonality of commodity and community in order to service the former and uplift the latter — was posthumously still very much alive , even when referencing death . The inclusion of a Jim Phillips-esque Grim Reaper graphic was a breathtaking detail from a man designing his own legacy while gazing upon his own mortality . Bags came shaped as bouquets . The closing four all-white looks , some featuring Leonardo-esque wings , required no interpretation .
To focus overly on the merch at a show attended by his widow and so many friends that it acted also a form of memorial feels almost grubby . However Abloh did articulate himself very specifically through design , and here his instinct to cross-pollinate categories in order to erase boundaries was in full force : lushly magisterial suiting , both quirkily detailed and jewel-accessorized , played alongside the “ streetwear ” tradition this designer refused to tolerate being marginalized .
Then there were the two tapestried looks , one on a topcoat , the other on an acutely waisted — almost Bar-shaped — parka , upon which were reproduced De Chirico ’ s The Melancholia of Departure , a piece the artist created multiple versions of . These , said the notes , were illustrative of the 2020 Abloh-termed concept named “ Maintainamorphosis ,” defined as “ the principle that ‘ old ’ ideas should be invigorated with value and presented alongside the ‘ new ,’ because both are equal in worth .”
Returning then to the “ old ,” it was back in June 2018 for collection 1 , his very first for Louis Vuitton , that Abloh transmitted multiple references to The Wizard Of Oz , all of them specific to Dorothy ’ s fever dream . Today , as members of Abloh ’ s design studio came out en masse to a standing ovation after his very last collection for Louis Vuitton , they stood within the inside-out of Abloh ’ s cyclone-scattered dreamhouse . What an irreplaceable force he was .
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