We give you a front row seat as Virgil Abloh presents the first stop of his Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring/Summer 2021 Fashion Show in Shanghai.
It was in the first week of July when Louis Vuitton initially teased us with their upcoming spring 2021 collection for the hallowed house, and now we’re about to see more of it. Its menswear creative director, Virgil Abloh, described his mission this season and his work at the maison as more than just creating luxury streetwear—an aesthetic he’s widely known for.
“We’re in a streetwear era, but I’m not satisfied with categories that are popular,” he says via Vogue. “I want to make a wardrobe. To me, that’s doing justice to the history and craftsmanship and savoir-faire of Vuitton.”
Upon doing so, he intends to bring it everywhere around the globe. This gave him the idea to take his show to the sea and embrace this iconic fashion house’s global community and meet his clients in their own parts of the world. Trudging towards a more mindful future, Virgil Abloh thought of leaving behind the traditional fashion show format and opted for a virtual and literal voyage across the world to present his new collection titled, Message in a Bottle.
Starting at Louis Vuitton’s ancestral home in Asnières, outside of Paris, the film follows movers packing up shipping containers and loading them onto a barge. It then sails down the Seine River and beyond Paris. Aboard, a colorful crew of animated characters called, Zoooom with friends are hiding as stowaways, a nod to Abloh’s ongoing theme of boyhood evident in all of his Louis Vuitton collections.
Now, where else should his first stop be? None other than Shanghai, or also known as “The Paris of the East.” Throughout the collection’s voyage—which may add destinations along the way—the collection will transform into an evolving exchange across cultures and nations.
Going Gen Z
As a free and inclusive dialogue between the Maison and its audiences, Louis Vuitton has a new initiative that aims to cater to the younger market. Come to think of it, Gen Z will soon be dominating the market. So, the French label has started to create fun stickers and filters that are available on Instagram—from its monogram sunnies, Zoooom playing the guitar, to the LV logo in checkered black and white.
Take a front row seat like any other global celebrity as we bring you the Louis Vuitton Menswear S/S 2021 live in Shanghai at the comfort of your own home. Watch it below.
