Back in November, as the holiday season was just starting to ramp up, the fashion world, along with the rest of the world, was stunned to learn of Virgil Abloh’s passing. Ever the visionary, he was known, among other things, for making the exclusive inclusive, creating work that was part art, part fashion. All the while, he paved the way for those who would come after him. He left in his wake, a legacy that won’t soon be forgotten, and back in December with the brand’s pre-fall collection, we got a glimpse into Abloh’s final vision at Louis Vuitton, and today, the closing chapter is here.
“I’m not looking towards a new demographic. I’m looking towards the demographic I came from.” -Virgil Abloh
Yesterday in Paris, fashion’s most celebrated stars, editors, and more gathered to celebrate the final legacy of Virgil Abloh as Louis Vuitton presented his posthumous Fall 2022 collection. His 8th, and final collection for the brand, dubbed In the Grand Scheme of Things, is full of the iconic codes that Abloh helped implement during his time at Louis Vuitton. It was never just about the clothes for Abloh; rather, he sought to explore the human values which permeate within how we dress ourselves. Alboh believed that social, cultural, and political signifiers are used to implement change beyond just the scope of fashion. It’s that imaginative spirit that drove this collection. Collection 8 serves as the final piece of Abloh’s vision, and though his vision ended way too soon, it was and will remain nothing short of sensational.
So much can be said about the pieces that walked the runway in collection 8, but we’ll stick to the bags. Louis Vuitton’s classic Monogram is reinvented in a dizzying blurry pattern, seen atop silhouettes whose shapes are also skewed with distorted lines meant to embody the surrealism of the collection. Flowers have been a code used by Abloh in past collections, said to have been meant to symbolize human diversity, and in collection 8, they appear once again. Bouquet bags with three-dimensional leather flowers imitate an actual bouquet from a florist, complete with a florist’s sticker labels. Many of the bags feel otherwordly and dreamy, like the semi-transparent Damier bags that alternate PVC and leather in mini-Monogram and bags that distort the classic Damier pattern to create an optical illusion. Get a look at some of the magical bags from the collection below, and discover more via Louis Vuitton.
Look 1
What a striking, imaginative collection. I love these pieces!
Didn’t take long for the racist claws to come out.
Redflagging for any mod that cares 🚩
Mods don’t care. They’re racist too.
Hmm 🤔 Looks like she edited and changed the comment to say she loves the pieces lol. The only thing bringing the class down was that disgusting veiled comment. We saw her true nature already.
What I mean was the comment was deleted. Be gone thot!
I would say you couldn’t sound anymore racist. I could. But I’m guessing you have a lot more in you that is prepared to come out. #trustfundaintrespectable
This comment is giving subtle “anti-black”cues, particularly because you chose to comment in relation to subgroups lead by black people. You didn’t say musicians or even rock stars /heavy metal artists, you went straight for black dominated genres/sports.Maybe mask your antiquated biases more to make more publicly acceptable comments.
Like they “used” to do…in days gone by when they “thought” we didn’t know better🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
Nothing subtle about it. A deaf human could hear that dog whistle a mile away. How is being a trust fund baby respectable, per se? Good for someone if they’re born into money, I guess, but I have much greater respect for people who work hard to earn their money, including basketballers who train their whole lives and rappers who pull themselves up out of the projects. Personal drive is a very admirable quality, regardless of whether your name is Robinson or Rothschild.
I find your comments upsetting. Why the personal attack just because Gigi has different opinion. Why such a strong reaction to VA at all? Why are basketball players and rappers less desirable than trust funders? They are more likely to work hard and be self made. Rappers are artists. What is a respectable profession? One that is majority White/not-Black?
She/he is not the only person that thinks this. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Psst…(whispers) Your racism is showing.
Said the self hate yt privilege
Poor taste LOL. And you seem like someone with no class.
Trust fund? Respectable? You mean… wealthy and white? Get outta here with that nonsense; it’s 2022 – fashion and luxury can be for everyone, not just those born with a silver spoon up their butt.
To me, these are ART.
Gigi: You’ve been commenting on here for years and have gained respectability and have a deep knowledge base about your subject matter. You also present as fair and objective.The people trying to bring you down aren’t worth your time and attention. You’re a good person; in times of adversity, remember your worth!🌷
What a thoughtful message, thank you so much 🙂 I hope you have a beautiful day!
You have no idea what art means
Show me your MFA and I’ll show you mine.
I was wondering where art came from 😋
I’m actually an artist myself, so I know that true art usually goes unnoticed by average people much like yourself 😉
I won’t miss VA’s designs. Overall, his idea of luxury never appealed to me. Looking forward to the new artistic leadership at Louis Vuitton. I hope they embrace elegance and sophistication again.
I agree Louis Vuitton means elegance. These bags are just Trendy nothing more. I think that when you want a trendy bag one should seek out other Houses. Just doesn’t make sense for LV.
could not agree more ….. respect to V.A as a person and designer i just can’t love his designs.
Glad to see the “END” Mr Copy King. Never liked his design but appreciated how he approached his “ ideas “ in unique ways.Obviously he has helped to bring young customers to LV but lost sense of elegance and luxurious taste at the same time.
Cant wait to see the new artistic director.
There is nothing “new” under the sun. Everything is a reinvention of something else (copy)
You are glad he died? Just so he would stop designing for LV?
Who said copying was ever wrong. Better copy and make it solid. Y’all don’t have an eye for innovation.🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
I agree with this comment. There’s a reason he was hired. In France LV was a brand for mature women. When I met my husband he called my monogram bags “sac de maman”. Mom bags. The fresh take was needed and there are the traditional lines for those that don’t deem creative color designs as “luxurious”. I’m getting a vibe from these comments too. But I’ll just sip my tea…. 🐸
bullseye! its so obvious. 🥱 RIP Virgil
Copying in not innovative. Look up the definition and you may understand it better! I feel like I’m trying to explain this common concept to a child.
Agreed!!! Could that be “their” problem!! Jealous of our greatness & acceptance in the once was all yt career
I completely agree with you – I never understood his design philosophy while his stuff just looked ugly – I hope they pick someone like Daniel Lee who is innovative, fun and classic!!
Omg SMDH
I find many of VA’s designs innovative, fun, and classic. Look 10, see thru squares bag, c’mon. That’s so inovative and fun take on classic shape in classic material. Maybe it’s not what you personally, but it’s great.
I liked that and the off square looking suitcase. The blue croc as well and the purple velvet is to die for. Some people love fashion and some people like to been seen in recognizable pieces. He will be missed.
What’s going on at PB? These hateful commenters have no place here. Have some respect for the dead. Virgil was a breath of fresh air to the stuffy brand, they knew exactly what he would bring and they wanted that. He will be missed.
I am sanitizing this comment section now.
👏 👏 👏
LOL This is nothing new. Have you seen that Meghan Markle hate thread? Purseforum is full of racists that have all come out of hiding now.
I agree, I’m seeing some very racist undertones all over this thread and I’m quite shocked by how blatant they are! I’ve never been to purseblog before and now I’m pretty sure I won’t be back.
The Reddit LV thread is more joyous and diverse, but I peek here once in a while and this subject was worth the read. Too bad the comments were déclassé.
Agreed! Really disheartening to read.
Agreed 100%
Virgil did an amazing job at incorporating graphics into the luxury space. Whether or not you like it, you can’t deny his influence.
Many brands seem to be following, many of which are within the LVMH group but even across industries such as Rolex now implementing graphics on their watch dials.
He really pushed boundaries and it’ll be really interesting to see what sticks, or whether high fashion will return to something rather conservative and timeless again.
I’m hoping he paved the path for more out-of-the-box designs; a lot of fashion has been stuffy and conservative for far too long
Why is there so much hate on these forums?
Don’t judge people’s opinion about aesthetics and if you feel the urge to do, please do it in a nice way….
Hmm. So if you don’t like his work, then others only like it because he was Black? Everyone who has different taste from yours is ignorant? Are you trolling or serious?
The time when they called Virginie Viard’s designs ‘tacky China town knockoffs’ and then deleted their horrid comment after being called out for how racist it was leads me to think they are serious.
Cause they’re racist and miserable. They just want to throw dirt on his name. They should have the same energy for their own who literally stole everything and has copied everything. It’s just part of the way they think they can control the masses. They “THINK” that if they repeat it over and over that ppl would believe it to be true. Stupid is what stupid does.
Say It Again…for those in the back💯💯💯💯💯💯
Virgil Abloh made his mark on the world of fashion, more than me or anyone else here commenting, whether you liked his work or not. Abloh’s name has been immortalized in fashion history and no one can take that away from him. Now for that unpleasantness, to dislike Abloh’s work is fine, everyone deserves their opinion as long as it’s delivered with fairness and with reason, not discrimination based on internalized bigotry. If you think Abloh brought down french heritage of LV, than you have to criticize the entire board of LVMH and house code. If you criticize Abloh, but praise Jeff Koons x LV as innovative in the same breath, I call 100% hypocrisy. Same goes for praising Kim Jones, Dema Gvasalia, or covet the whole Supreme x LV, yeah check your blindspot.
Thank you for saying this! It expresses my feelings exactly!
Same people who rave about Andy Warhol but have no concrete evidence to hate Jean-Michel Basquiet except for, “I hate it, it’s ugly. Warhol made him famous, etc…”.
Andy Warhol wasn’t trained as a fine painter, he was a graphic designer, photographer, and a skilled silk screener. Does that mean we should take his work down from the walls of the MET and Louvre?
Like Abloh, he wasn’t trained classically as a fashion designer but both artists are immortalized because their hard work and tireless pursuit innovation.
The same narrow minds who take slight, passive aggressive jabs at Abloh’s American identity and Ghanaian heritage
are the same people would have felt threaten by the visibility of gay/lesbian people in fashion during the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.
For me I wouldn’t engage deeply with those who are limited and thrive on hate for hate sake.
Sorry so long but I’m sadden when fashion history has become a weapon to bully others with.
Some of Virgil’s pieces were beautiful and unique , other pieces were very eccentric. They had to grow on me . I buy Classic LV. However, I love my new VA pieces . He was very gifted . His fashion vision was way ahead of his time
I would like everyone to google Louis Vuitton ugliest bags and re think your comments on he was the worst designer. I believe everyone here has never like every single piece of their favorite designer looks. Its nearly impossible to have loved everything a single designer had done.
Don’t forgot the banana and apple bag.
I didn’t care for the cats on the monogram lol. But it just moved on with my day when I saw them I didn’t call out a whole type by describing them and saying the brand wasn’t for them and that cat loving knitting bookworms are bringing down the brand 😂
Or the Comme Des Garçons Burned Holes Monogram Tote. I won’t critique it as a designer’s job is to be creative. There is only so much you can do to a tote, and I must say this one is pretty unique and thus far no one I know of has copied this. Lol
So many pieces that i would just LOVE. You definitely can’t be a square talking about what is fashion when you don’t know what fashion is. The amount of gate only leads me to believe it’s jealousy. R.I.P🙏🏼
I don’t like all the pieces of the collection but so what? I don’t always like the pieces of any one collection.
While these designs don’t fit my personal aesthetic, I think they are really cool. It’s very sad when an artist dies young. We will never see what he would have created.
You can like his designs, or dislike his designs. I just don’t understand the vitriol being exchanged among some of those making a post.
Absolutely!! What is going on today with these posts??! I’m all for free speech and personal opinions but some folks may need a time-out!!
Racism is deeply ingrained and never takes a day off.
Is it my eyesight or is the monogram print blurry? I am sorry but I can’t pay $5000 for a blur bag!
It’s blur + ugly = blugly
Hahaha 🤣 good one!
Exactly
This is not a black or white thing,when a white person don’t like something as far as what a black designer created,then they are hating or races.The same people don’t like every white designer either, this is more of a age thing I’m older and I don’t like any of that also it’s not neat .pants hanging over your shoe is sloppy but to a younger generation it’s better to look like Johnny Depp pirates of the Caribbean, than James bond or ghost from power, chose a brother also for the grown image.
It wasn’t a black or white thing until a comment that the designs were for rappers and bball players was made. That was entirely directed to black people and was not only ignorant but untrue. Otherwise, how is it explained that the same group wears Chanel, Hermes, Fendi? That “group” has the same money that any other group has yet it seems like it’s preferred to see blacks stay in their lane. With “some” people that is.
The comments on this article are pathetic and RUDE! If these designs aren’t your personal choice, then so be it. There’s other brands out there for you. Perhaps MK?😉 Cause I’m sure most of the people commenting can’t afford one of Virgil’s pieces and miss purchasing pieces for under $1000
Agree on the rudeness. For someone here to dismiss Virgil Abloh’s arch of work with Louis Vuitton, alluding that it was only appealing to rappers and baseball players of a certain ethnicity is beyond me.
Consider Alexander McQueen. During his time a lot of the staunch fashion world was disgusted and loathed his work. McQueen, like Jean-Paul Gauthier and Vivianne Westwood, used different people with different body types and all walks of life breaking many house codes. McQueen sadly suffered from self-image issues, depression and drug abuse. Do we dismiss him for having mental illness today? Nope.
Take assurance Virgil Abloh’s detractors will be the first to buy a tickets for Abloh’s first life in introspection show.
It’s like knowing someone who loves Hugo Boss and Chanel, sports the label but knows zero history about either person or blindly ignores it. Many designers are their own historians. Areas in art, literature, architecture, graphic design, and fashion history. Issac Mizrahi destroyed his opponents in Jeopardy and the late Karl Lagerfeld was the embodiment of a library and lived in books that he knew out of hundreds of books on his shelves he knew exactly where each one sat. Michael Kors, although I’m not a fan, I respect his career, work with Celine when it was a floundering house, and his intelligence.
I’d say the extent of the unimaginative would be the used of basic language to describe luxury: Neverfull MM in monogram; 35 Birken with gold hardware; and Chanel flap in black. God forbid you throw in terms like epi, cheve, and11.12/2.55
Imagine knowing someone with such exotic tastes that they invited you to sit down and have tea in a boxing ring. His furniture collection too was so covetable by those who appreciate art and the creativity behind it. Much more than a label…Karl Lagerfeld https://www.minniemuse.com/articles/musings/karl-lagerfelds-apartment
Totally agree
His bags may not be practical or wearable for many people, but I truly appreciate his innovative spirit. I hope they re-issue his designs from time to time down the road.
I may not gravitate to all of Virgils designs, buy I understand that most creators/designers think out of the box. Not everyone has the same style, therefore as a creator/artist, such as Virgil, it takes a creative mind to do the unusual in order to be seperate from the rest. I appreciate his creations, and although it may not be for everyone, it doesn’t need to be. There is nothing wrong with change. What I thought was cool 20 yrs ago is just too traditional now. Many classics are here to stay which fits for the older generations. For the newer generations classic is not what all are looking for. Some want trendy, and that should be ok.
I love all of his keepalls. So nice to see colour and pattern from the house. Loved his modern vibe. Took things up a notch. Sad he’s gone
I can’t believe he left me a new Pulsion Lockit as a parting gift 😭
I will miss his accessories and use of the codes (and that’s far more than I can say of either Nicolas or Kim)
RIP Virgil
Rest in piece Virgil. Most of his designs were not my personal taste, but I always found his vision fun and creative. I love how many times he took inspiration from the rock climbing community, and I love that look 1 and 6 look like they have little climbing holds on them. He will be missed.
Rest in “PEACE.”
Looks 1 , 12 and 13 are beautiful and worth buying .
I don’t think I’ve bought a thing from LV since he started. Off to Chanel and it’s at least all leather. Value keeps climbing.
This comment makes no sense. How does the creator of LV’s menswear made you buy Chanel, a brand that doesn’t offer any menswear?
Do you only buy men’s bags? He was the creative director for men’s wear. He wasn’t in charge of everything at LV. Though last the increased his is role to work on new partnerships and brands.
As a fan of fashion I would I was not a fan of V.A. Clothes collection but I understood what he did and brought to the LV mens brand. If you recall Kim jones collection for lv was cold, modern, simple, natural, safe but boring. I would remember seeing Marc’s woman’s collection and saying to the staff. ‘Why don’t you do this for mens. It’s always Blkm greys navy blues and browns.’
I’m happy Virgil brought light and life into the mens brands even tho I didn’t care for it, some of his pieces were and are iconic (soft trunk) epic !!! In mesh and in many colors.
Point blank he left his mark that will forever change the mens brand which coincides with todays/tomorrow’s trend.. get with it y’all LV will bring in a Kim Jones / Virgil .A hybrid.
To end that I loved these bags there fun and different if y’all want bland and boring go to Kenneth Cole or Prada and ask for raff
Hideous
The paint bucket is kinda cute, but I absolutely LOVE the brocade keepall in the last photo, wonder if I’ll be able to get my hands on one easily… or if they will make any handbags in that material?
They look amazing all of them, each one is unique and different in their design,I want all if the..
He was Hot!
I love the almost see through keepall. Didn’t see it online yet. When, where can we purchase? The men’s collection is at it’s best 2022.
Order with an SA now. Collection will be in store this summer.
How?? We have a large store in the Aventura Mall, FL… Help 😘😘😘
Amazing designs