Paris Fashion Week 2022: Virgil Abloh’s final Louis Vuitton menswear collection was big on Batman, basketball, graffiti, Kanye West – and optimism

Jan 21 , 2022

Batman, basketball, graffiti and Kanye West were among the key themes detected in late designer Virgil Abloh’s final Louis Vuitton show, presented at Paris Fashion Week on January 20. Photo: AFP

The game-changing designer’s autumn/winter 2022 menswear collection was presented as a posthumous tribute to LV’s first African-American creative director

Abloh’s fresh street-infused styles ditched the typically luxuriant styles of his predecessor Kim Jones – the big question is where the historic house goes next

Louis Vuitton pulled out the stops Thursday to present the final collection of Virgil Abloh, the house’s first African-American creative director who died in November after a two-year battle with cancer.

One of many poignant creations from the final menswear collection Virgil Abloh designed for Louis Vuitton, presented during Paris Fashion Week on January 20. Photo: EPA-EFE

The stage of a bedroom, staircase, trampoline and smoking chimney on the central Paris runway conjured up nostalgic images evoking Abloh’s childhood, dovetailing with themes that defined his Louis Vuitton aesthetic since 2018.

“Life is so short you can’t wait even a day” is one of Abloh’s quotes included in the show notes. It was typical of the Epicureanism and optimism in this display – and the overall life and art of the Illinois-born designer.

Models present creations by late designer Virgil Abloh as part of his final collection for Louis Vuitton. Photo: Reuters

The colour-rich presentation in the Carreau du Temple in Le Marais was a fitting swansong. It began with model-acrobats repeatedly bouncing down onto a hidden trampoline and back up onto a flight of ascending stairs.

Big peaked ears on Batman-like caps evoked his childhood obsessions, as did oversized baseball headwear or graffiti-style prints.