PARIS — “Query Every little thing.”
These phrases, written in block letters, had been a motto for Virgil Abloh, the barrier-breaking designer, artist, D.J., furnishings maker and conversationalist; founding father of Off-White and inventive director of Louis Vuitton males’s put on; a person who as soon as described himself as a “cultural Robin Hood — steal from the snobs and provides it again to some children”; who died unexpectedly in November at age 41.
These phrases had been on the coronary heart of his first retrospective, “Figures of Speech,” held on the Museum of Modern Artwork in Chicago in 2019. And so they had been born aloft on a fluttering flag Monday, the primary day of Paris Trend Week, within the final Off-White present Mr. Abloh ideated earlier than his demise.
Which was itself each a retrospective — a tour by the foundational “codes” (as a voice-over known as them) that he had established for the model, and an argument for his or her potential to energy it onward — and a leap into the long run, with a brand new excessive trend assortment and wonder line.
In spite of everything, Mr. Abloh meant these phrases as phrases not simply to recollect, however to dwell by: Yeah, why can’t a model go on even when its founder, a person many thought-about not simply its coronary heart and thoughts however its personification, is gone? And who says a man who began out aiming to create a wearable dialogue between streetwear and ready-to-wear shouldn’t strive his hand at couture too?
That’s why the occasion hadn’t been billed as a memorial, however as a celebration. And regardless of the somberness of the worldwide state of affairs, it was.
Rihanna and ASAP Rocky had been there. So was Pharrell Williams. Carla Bruni, the previous first woman of France. Idris Elba. The designers Olivier Rousteing of Balmain, Jonathan Anderson of Loewe and Tremaine Emory of Supreme. Michael Burke, the chief government of Louis Vuitton, and José Neves, chief government of Farfetch, which owns New Guards Group, the Italian producer that helped create and nurture Off-White.
All sitting on chairs set out alongside the perimeter of an enormous white room, with a large crystal chandelier and an equally elaborate amplifier association arrayed within the heart, watching as a parade of Abloh-isms appeared: appears for each women and men born from completely different traditions in animated dialog with one another. Black sweaters and body-con attire got here with asteroid-shaped cutouts; mohair harnesses topped tailor-made suiting; slouchy leather-based cargos had been adorned with completely geometric patch pockets.
Thong straps had been pulled up and over the hipbones beneath micro miniskirts. Jacquard was made with a graffiti print. There have been big fuzzy backpacks and massive puffer chunky-heel Alpine boots with appliquéd pot leaves. Quoted phrases. At one level, Serena Williams sauntered out, in a stretch web gown over a tie-dyed bodysuit.
Oh hiya, Serena.
Later, for the haute (“haute”) part, so did seemingly each supermodel beneath the solar. Kendall Jenner wore a black sequined little black gown with the phrases “little black gown” on the aspect (an easier model of which had appeared within the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork’s “Camp” exhibition in 2019). Cindy Crawford, an extravagant tiered tulle plissé skirt beneath a cropped tuxedo jacket and T-shirt, with a clear purse stuffed with capsules. Naomi Campbell, swishy turquoise crushed velvet trousers beneath an extended night coat with an identical prime hat and the phrase “respectfully” on the again. There was additionally a crystal-embroidered bustier with the common “no” signal on the entrance together with the phrase “Snitchin’.”
It was, in different phrases, fairly convincing proof that the muse Mr. Abloh had laid was stable. That if as soon as he was the model’s embodiment, he may additionally function its north star.
And that whereas — just like the central flag itself — he could have began off quoting virtually all the pieces and each designer, ultimately his phrases and his work are quotable all on their very own.