Probably a few saw coming that Colm Dillane, founder of KidSuper would be
assigned as the temporary succesor of Virgil Abloh and designer of the new
Louis Vuitton Men's Fall/Winter collection. The Vuitton house still stays
silence naming a permanent new Creative Director after the passing of
Virgil Abloh. Seeing the Fall/Winter '23 presentation, with a vibrant and
KidSuper' own unpredictable approach to clothing, Dillane is clearly
influenced and inspired bij Abloh and as told many times, he considers
Abloh as a genius. It just so might be after the positive response on this
collection, Dillane will be anounced as permanent Creative Director of the
house.
To be correct, this collection is designed by Louis Vuitton in-house
Ready-to-wear Men Designteam, from whom most of them worked with Virgil
Abloh during his time at Louis Vuitton. They looked back at Abloh's work
for the house with Dillane directing, selecting and designing pieces. The
results are a mix of Dillane's bright colors, artistic paintings/drawings
and the genderfluide style Abloh added to the house. We see painted camera
bags, decorated denim jeans, patchwork full-logo camouflage coats (with
mixing bags) and a beautiful knit suit drawn directly by Dillane, one of
our favourites. Dillane also asked the team to write down their thoughts
about the collaboration and collection. These notes are stitched and
patched together in a white aesthetic suit, all coming together on the
runway.
Reviewing the collection at the headquarters of Louis Vuitton where a
part of the set by the Gondry Brothers was re-created, we saw the
figurative illustration which is classic KidSuper, closely. The
airbrush-style artworks on the suits and some bags are craftwork
Dilliane is known for. Dilliane combined an auction with a runway last
season for his own brand and we can totally imagine seeing an art lover
bidding highly for the hand painted bag, it is Art.
The collection and set felt a bit nostalgic when styled with 70's design
lamps, tapes, vinyl, old games, a racing play circuit, chairs etc like
kids getting dressed in their dad's clothes. Adding a lot of platform
soles to the kicks collection, increases that feeling. Obviously
the Fall/Winter '23 collection is not to measure against Abloh's designs
for Louis Vuitton. It is not fair, creatively to both designers. However
we see Dilliane keeping Abloh's vibe alive without losing his own
signifant style and in the vision of the house. This new chapter for
Louis Vuitton could be with Dilliane, never forgetting the chapter
before.
No comments