Louis Vuitton Honors Virgil Abloh With His Final Runway Collection in Miami

Virgil Abloh's final runway show took place at Miami Marine Stadium this evening, where the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022 menswear collection, Virgil Was Here, was presented. The Louis Vuitton men's creative director and founder of Off-White passed away on November 28 after a years-long private battle with cancer. Abloh was 41. 

With a star-studded front row including Abloh's friend and collaborator Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Pharrell Williams, Serena Williams, and many more, the show began with a video of a boy embarking on a hot air balloon. Then, over 70 looks took the runway.

The Spring/Summer 2022 collection was first unveiled in June 2021 in a phygital format. Highlighting the designer’s fluency in artistic disciplines (he was also a DJ, photographer, furniture designer, and more) Abloh found inspiration from Amen Break, a 1969 drum solo that has been sampled in hip hop music countless times. The collection thus ruminates on the “myth of ownership in contemporary creativity.” Similar to the soundtrack of the runway—which featured samples that spanned genres and cultures from Kanye West, to jazz legend Miles Davis, to Brazilian pop—the clothes re-iterate and ideate. For fashion, that means expanding and exploring themes that are already echoing throughout modern menswear. Tailored suits give a taste of the traditional, tracksuits and a special Nike sneaker collaboration speak to streetwear culture, and dresses and skirts embrace gender fluidity. The repetition of these elements throughout the collection reflect Abloh’s ability to ceaselessly conceptualize through design.

In an emotional and celebratory end to the show, fireworks lit up the sky as a voiceover of Abloh said, "There’s no limit. Life is so short that you can’t waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do."