While he’s taking time out in Chicago to rest up on doctor’s orders, Virgil Abloh’s Off-White show in Paris made an almost cosmically calm impression—certainly compared to the multi-sensational grandstand-style hysteria of the past few seasons. That turned out to be exactly the intention. The concept Abloh had planned was titled Meteor Strike, a collection about that astral phenomenon in one sense and the strength of women in another.
The Hadid sisters walked, as stars of the show, and so did a number of elders of the modeling scene—Georgina Grenville and Audrey Marnay included. Streamlined shapes, essentially honed down to shirtdresses, pants, T-shirts, bias-cut knits, and sheath dresses, synced with the season’s feeling for the paring away of excess, as well as the millennial admiration for ’90s minimalism.
The sense of elevation was no coincidence. Abloh’s interest in promoting education and aspiration to young people was manifested right at the beginning of the show with a recording of the voice of Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first black woman to travel in space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Her words, about the importance of creativity in science and the arts, were from a question-and-answer session with young girls in 2018.
After his retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Abloh’s work has been increasingly underscored by his effort to show new generations that anything can be achieved through study. The reason he’s gone all the way to the top is because he was educated at the University of Wisconsin. And there—in a trope that merged conceptualism with humor—was the explanation for the circular holes that riddled T-shirts, bags, and boots. The collection notes Abloh penned referred to meteor craters—the space theme followed through. But the resemblance to Emmentaler cheese was real too—an affectionate nod to the Cheesehead hats and helmets traditionally worn by fans at sports events in Wisconsin, the Dairy State.
He goes high and he goes low—all experience is grist for Abloh’s mill, and he’s bringing streetwear fans with him. Lesson of the season accomplished. Fly high, he says.
