The Virgil Abloh Effect
The streetwear trend that will not—no matter how many brands test it out— dissipate.
In January 2017, Louis Vuitton teamed up with Supreme and permanently changed the relationship between high fashion and streetwear: a marriage that was inevitable, but could only have been initiated by a handful of brands. It was only the beginning. 2017 saw streetwear set about cannibalizing its own identity of “cool”. In November, a streetwear fair driven by commerce—ComplexCon—was held, marking street culture’s evolution from anti-establishment to establishment itself.
Virgil Abloh—DJ, designer, and founder of the on-fire streetwear brand Off-White—is now the new artistic designer of menswear at Louis Vuitton. A riot broke out during Paris Fashion Week when Off-White fans gathered outside the venue of the brand’s runway show hoping to catch a glimpse or maybe even sneak in. The surrounding hype was reported to be “unprecedented”. For two years in a row, DJ Khaled appeared at the SoHo brick-and-mortar store of Stadium Goods, a consignment store for rare & limited edition sneakers, crowds flooded the store and the street had to be shut down.
The idea that has always underpinned the allure of streetwear—being part of an in-the-know club—is dying as it becomes more mainstream. Despite the mixed feelings, streetwear is likely to become more omnipresent and open to all.
Sources: Glossy (March 5, 2018) | Highsnobiety (December 18, 2017) | massappeal (June 16, 2017) | The New York Times (March 26, 2018) | Image: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty