Even Serena Williams took the runway.
Today, the late Virgil Abloh’s Off-White presented its Fall 2022 collection. The show came after two tributes by Louis Vuitton when his menswear collection was introduced just two days after his death on November 28.
The Miami LV show was titled “Virgil was here” and ended with his team tearfully walking the runway in place of him.
READ ALSO: View According To You: Off-White’s F/W 2022 Show Will Be Live-Streamed On TikTok
The second was in Paris last month, the same city where Off-White set their first show following its founder’s death due to cancer. Abloh’s friends, many of which were also his colleagues, took to Instagram how LV’s first Black menswear creative director shattered the glass ceiling in the fashion world.
For Virgil
Top models with close relationships with Abloh were cast in the Off-White tribute show. Supermodels Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford wore the pieces he designed and continued by his team.
In an Instagram post of Crawford and her daughter, Kaia, on the runway, she wrote, “this one’s for Virgil.”
The new generation of supers was also present: Kendall Jenner, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, and Adut Akech. In addition, even tennis star Serena Williams walked in a layered skintight catsuit under a sheer dress.
“I had an unbelievable time walking in the @off____white show… Virgil meant so much to me, and to walk in a collection that he was still a part of was something I could not miss. Thank you for the opportunity,” Williams said in an Instagram post. “I am so grateful to show love to my friend.”
Fashion world giant
Titled “Spaceship Earth,” its guests were also nothing short of star-studded. Expecting parents Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, musician Pharrell Williams, Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, Givenchy’s Matthew Williams, Vetment’s Guram Gvasalia, and LVMH and New Guards Group executives (the mother company of Off-White) all came to celebrate the founder’s last works.
Dialogue from an interview with Abloh and Pharrell opened the show. The designer talked about the importance of passing on “codes” or wisdom to our “brothers and sisters,”—amplifying the importance of paving the way to help others.
“You can do it too,” was the caption Abloh posted on Instagram after his first show for Louis Vuitton in June 2018. And when luxury conglomerate LVMH acquired a majority stake of Off-White, he dedicated it to “the dreamers.”
Although his successors for LV and Off-White are yet to be announced, Abloh’s legacy continues through his scholarship fund.
Founded in 2020, the “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund supports the “next generation of Black fashion industry leaders.”
Banner photo from @VirgilAbloh on Instagram.
