Virgil Abloh’s legacy at Louis Vuitton’s Paris Fashion Week menswear show: the bold spring/summer 2023 collection is the fashion house’s first not created by the late designer

Jun 27 , 2022

A model presents a creation during the Louis Vuitton menswear spring/summer 2023 show, as part of Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, on June 23. Photo: AFP

Rapper Kendrick Lamar and Florida A&M University band members performed as models showed off bold creations along a ‘yellow brick road’ à la The Wizard of Oz

Celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Naomi Campbell and Jessica Biel looked on at the colourful, quickly collection with a variety of prints and childlike elements

He may have died last November, but Virgil Abloh lived on at Paris Fashion Week on Thursday, June 23, in a high-energy runway spectacular for Louis Vuitton menswear. A black marching band gave a rousing performance on a surreal yellow brick road installation inside the Louvre, while rapper Kendrick Lamar performed a live ode to the American fashion star who was Vuitton’s menswear designer from 2018 until his death.

The FAMU’s Incomparable Marching “100” band perform during the spring/summer 2023 collection show by Louis Vuitton fashion house during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris, France, on June 23. Photo: Reuters

Models carry a rainbow flag along a “yellow brick road” during the Louis Vuitton menswear spring/summer 2023 show, as part of Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, on June 23. Photo: AFP

Models wearing a suit coat paired with shorts, and a gender-bending ruffled skirt, as part of the Louis Vuitton men’s spring/summer 2023 collection presented in Paris, France, on June 23. Photo: AP Photo

“Long live Virgil … How many miles away?” went the live rap by Lamar at the stiflingly hot Vuitton show. The yellow road set that snaked around the Louvre’s oldest courtyard recalled the spirit of the Wizard of Oz and the childhood obsessions common in Abloh’s designs – as did a colourfully dressed marching band and dancing troupe, including several Florida A&M University band members, that appeared noisily at the show’s beginning and end.

A model showing off a carnival of colour as part of the Louis Vuitton men’s spring/summer 2023 collection presented in Paris, France, on June 23. Photo: AP Photo

Nostalgic touches evoking childhood were present at Louis Vuitton’s menswear spring/Summer 2023 show, as part of Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, on June 23, such as the colourful beads and decorations seen here. Photo: AFP

This spring/summer show was the first presented since Abloh’s death that he had not designed (a previous posthumous one was based on his own creations). On Thursday, it was instead a collection conceived entirely by the Vuitton studio in his spirit. This rare continuation at Vuitton of a former designer’s aesthetic is a strong sign of the level of influence the man drew.

It’s a remarkable feat for a studio to emulate a former designer’s styles – with originality.

Yellow on yellow at Louis Vuitton’s menswear spring/summer 2023 show, as part of Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, on June 23. Photo: AFP