Louis Vuitton paid tribute to Virgil Abloh on Thursday (Jan. 20) by presenting his designs at the Men’s Fashion Week show in Paris, France. The collection, Abloh’s fall/winter 2022 showcase, was the last one he created before his untimely death in November.
The Paris fashion show was meant to “consolidate the themes and messages of [Abloh’s] eight-season arc,” Louis Vuitton said in a statement.
Abloh joined Louis Vuitton in 2018 as the artistic director of the brand’s menswear line, becoming the first African American artistic director at a French luxury fashion house. The Illinois native was also well-known for his Milan-based label Off-White, which he founded in 2013.
Tragically, Abloh passed away in November after suffering a two-year battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma. He was 41 years old.
Thursday’s Louis Vuitton fashion show is the latest effort to honor Abloh’s creative vision. After his death; Kanye West, Rihanna, 21 Savage, Pharrell Williams, Lil Baby and more attended his final runway show, “Virgil Was Here,” in Miami. The show featured Abloh’s spring/summer 2022 Louis Vuitton menswear collection, which was modeled by the likes of Offset, Quavo, Kid Cudi and more at the Miami Marine Stadium.
The following month, Westside Gunn, a frequent collaborator of Abloh’s, paid tribute to his late friend at his Art Basel debut.
“Virgil was one of those guys that was like a true brother to me behind the scenes. He’s the one who got me to go to Paris in the first place — I had never even left the country, bro. The reason why I went to Paris is because of Virgil,” Gunn explained. “Virgil played my song at the Off-White show. Virgil dressed me for fashion week. Just the inspiration from all of that, I went to the studio and made the first half of Pray For Paris in Paris, because it started as an EP. So the Pray For Paris was made in Paris, and it was all because of Virgil. He did the cover. All that.”
See photos from Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh tribute show on Twitter below.