As the clocks swayed from the end of May to 1 June, the skies of Bangkok, Thailand glimmered a little brighter. The evening of the city’s highly-anticipated Louis Vuitton men’s fall/winter 2022 spin-off show was now here and celebrities, press and personalities from all corners of the globe were making their way across the Chao Phraya River by ferry. Hosted on the eighth floor of luxury shopping destination, Iconsiam, the show was graced by an audience of over 800. In attendance were stars such as Park Bo Gum, Mario Maurer and Sunny Suwanmethanont.
Pandemic-striken trepidation and the long-awaited return of runways aside, Louis Vuitton’s men’s fall/winter 2022 spin-off show—which follows an equally memorable spring/summer womenswear iteration hosted in Singapore in March of last year—was Virgil Abloh’s last collection for the maison. “As I restart my engines at Louis Vuitton and take off for a future of new possibility, I look back at my port of departure. Under my artistic direction, I see my Louis Vuitton men’s collections as my platform of nuance,” Abloh shared in his manifesto. He passed away in November of last year—but his vision as Men’s Artistic Director has left an unwavering impact.
Titled Louis Dreamhouse², the runway show took cues from the idea of circular creativity. “The legacy of the Men’s Artistic Director is founded in arcs: the coming-of-age premise, the global perspective, and the cycle of creativity,” shares Louis Vuitton’s press notes. This was explored firstly through symbolic set design—from the slow orbiting of an iridescent sphere to the techni-coloured show invites. Nestled in the centre of the showspace was an upside down house, which seemed to dissipate into the background as the night went on.
While the collection debuted nine new looks—a checkered red-and-blue pairing of a shirt and bomber jacket, a denim iteration of the same design as well as a monogram-embossed bomber jacket, to name a few—Abloh’s cornerstones from the line-up’s first showing in Paris in January held fort. And as per the first time, each look was a subversion: of masculine and feminine, tailored and relaxed, muted and colourful and yet most poignantly, past and present.
Traditional suiting was offset by playful caps, all-black ensembles were draped in crystal-reminiscent netting and arguably the collection’s most recognisable look—a teal, purple and white windbreaker set brought together by a matching cap, billowing trousers and a purple paint can—hit the theme home. Dreamscape-like elements were injected through pieces such as a plush tie-dye hoodie and skirt, oversized coats—featuring a painting by Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico—as well kite-like wings on a range of all-white looks.
This alternate playfulness trickled into the collection’s accessories, too. From padded iterations of the house’s Keepall bag to the bouquets of paper flowers, crystal-encrusted ear cuffs, paint buckets and printed balaclavas, each piece was as reality-bending as the last.
See the standout looks from the Louis Vuitton men’s fall/winter 2022 spin-off show below.
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