Next-gen fashion: Off-White takes streetwear to another level in Paris show
It’s the duty of young designers to bring something new to the table, says brand’s head, Virgil Abloh - who’s also an architect and creative director for Kanye West
Virgil Abloh’s fashion brand, Off-White, is all about streetwear – and for some people that’s a problem.
“Streetwear is my gateway to Paris,” says Abloh, a statement borne out by his autumn/winter 2016 menswear collection in Paris, and one that says a lot about the fashion industry’s latest challenge.
With the biggest luxury fashion labels struggling to remain exclusive, designers need to reinvent the stuff fashion dreams are made of – and that’s just what Abloh is doing at Off-White.
The scope of his work – he is a fashion designer, but also a graphic designer, an architect, and last but not least creative director for Kanye West – makes it impossible to pin a label on him; one thing that can be said is that he is very much of his own generation.
“It’s a way of thinking, a lifestyle. A chapter which I believe is the evolution of fashion, a post-ready-to-wear fashion that fully embraces streetwear,” he says. “I respect the heritage, but I also want to break the rules in a credible way. It’s the duty of young designers to bring something new to the table.”