Off-White held its first show since Abloh’s death at the age of 41 in late November. The Fall-Winter 2022 collection is reportedly the final one Abloh oversaw for the brand, and though the question of who—or what group of people—might take over the brand going forward remains unanswered, the presentation provided a strong indication of what Off-White will look like in the post-Abloh era.
Louis Vuitton’s Chairman and CEO, Michael Burke, cited the similarity between the current situation at Off-White™ is similar to what Dior went through after the death of Christian Dior in 1957. “If the legacy is rich, authentic, and steeped in values that go beyond fashion, the odds of turning a passing into something eternal are spectacular.”
The show, titled Spaceship Earth, an “Imaginary Experience,” was held in two parts. The Off-White team saved the fireworks for the second half of the show. Abloh began designing the collection in the months after he first crashed the Haute Couture schedule, and each look was named to represent a type of woman. Some, like The Bride, The Businesswoman, and The Diva, are familiar archetypes in Parisian ateliers. Others snuck in the door with Abloh: there’s The Skater, wearing an oversized varsity jacket over a tulle skirt, The Soccer Player, wearing a crystal-embroidered soccer tank and booty shorts, and even The Stripper, wearing a black satin brasserie over a vintage tie-dye Grateful Dead T-shirt. It might be the first time a Grateful Dead tee has ever been worn with a couture creation, and it has Abloh’s fingerprints all over it, who peppered collections with “readymade” subcultural references.
