Looks from Louis Vuitton's Spring 2019 menswear show. Photo: Imaxtree Ever since Virgil Abloh was appointed as artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton back in March, there's been so much speculation about what the haute streetwear designer would bring to the well-known luxury house. We finally got a taste on Thursday, when Abloh unveiled his debut collection for Vuitton on a prismatic runway at the Palais Royal in Paris. Lining the massive, multicolored outdoor spectacle were 3,000 students, alongside celebs like Rihanna, Takashi Murakami, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Kylie Jenner and more, all waiting to see Abloh usher in a new era for Vuitton. There were vibrant prints galore juxtaposed with monochrome looks in hues of red, green, blue, purple and white. Abloh closed the show to take his first bow for the house, which was met by a standing ovation. Then, in a pretty moving moment, the designer embraced West with tears in his eyes; Abloh, a first-generation Ghanaian-American with no formal design training, had realized his dream in fashion. See every look from Virgil Abloh's debut Louis Vuitton collection in the gallery below. 57 Gallery 57 Images Sign up for our daily newsletter and get the latest industry news in your inbox every day.<doc-sep>Virgil Abloh has taken the next big step in his ascent of the fashion industry, as he showed his first collection for Louis Vuitton at Paris fashion week. In the afternoon heat of the Palais-Royale gardens on Thursday, the American designer introduced his take on Vuitton, starting with a new lexicon. “The biggest goal for a first collection in any scenario is to start so that people can understand the new vocabulary,” he wrote on Instagram before the show, at which each attendee was left a dictionary on their seats, or “a liberal definition of terms and explanation of ideas”, as he put it. It started with “accessomorphosis”, which he said was as a portmanteau describing the transformation of an accessory into a garment. This formed the basis of the 56-look collection he called Colour Theory. A double-breasted wool-mohair blazer fused with a white leather bib, complete with a pencil-case pouch; a leather vest, embossed with the fashion house’s signature monogram, had protruding structured pockets; and anoraks were cut away at the back to make way for an attached bum bag. Leather vest and pencil-case style pouch. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters Louis Vuitton is, of course, famed for accessories. Abloh took signature bag silhouettes such as the large Keepall, the Runner and the Petit-Malle (a miniature version of the transatlantic trunks with which the house made its name in the 1800s) and reimagined them – some in red, green and iridescent plastic, others in matte leather with the traditional hardware detailing. Hanging off each were multicoloured ceramic chains, which also were used as bracelets and necklaces, while creeper ankle boots and vintage suede sneakers completed the look. Reimagining is what Abloh is all about. The American designer’s appointment as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director in March was the culmination of his rise over the past three years and makes him the first designer of colour to hold such a high-profile position. The Louis Vuitton Petit-Malle, reimagined by Virgil Abloh. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA What makes his new role the most interesting is his unorthodox trajectory. The 37-year-old didn’t go to fashion school; instead his formal qualifications lie in engineering and architecture and he has had a successful career as a DJ and producer for the past two decades. What could be his achilles heel, however, is his greatest asset. The way he has challenged the preconceived notions of what a fashion designer looks like at his five-year-old label Off-White, is exactly the fresh perspective that has captured the millennial zeitgeist and ultimately had Louis Vuitton knocking on his door. When news broke of the hire, Louis Vuitton’s chief executive, Michael Burke, praised Abloh’s “innate creativity and disruptive approach”. On Thursday in Paris, Abloh explained to guests that he would not describe himself as a designer or an image maker, but that he wanted to “define the title of artistic director for a new and different era”. A reminder that he has never attested to be anything he is not. The utility belt, Louis Vuitton-style, by Virgil Abloh. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters What he is, however, is focused on diversity and inclusivity. In his dictionary, F was for “fandom: two-way worship between a designer and his clientele”. In the lead-up to his debut collection, he shared snapshots of his inspiration with his 2.3 million followers on Instagram and, at the show, the spray-painted rainbow catwalk (matching the palette of the collection) was lined by students he had invited from Paris. The model line-up, meanwhile, had representatives from every continent in the world – bar Antarctica – that were shown on a map that read “We are the world”. At his own Off-White show on Wednesday, the father-of-two explained that he saw his brand as the teenager to Vuitton’s adult. While there was plenty of tailoring to please that clientele, there was equal measure of teen spirit. Tie-dye jacquard smocks, hooded anoraks and oversized shirts took on a Wizard of Oz theme, with the face of Judy Garland’s Dorothy depicted in sequins and surrounded by poppies. (D was for Dorothy, by the way, ‘A farm girl from the Midwest transported to Oz, a fairy tale land where she experiences things beyond her imagination. As an outsider, she soon discovers she was taken to Oz for a reason’.) The rainbow-infused runway at Virgil Abloh’s debut Louis Vuitton menswear collection at the Palais-Royale in Paris. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA His Louis Vuitton collection elicited a standing ovation from the audience, among whom was Abloh’s mentor, Kanye West, who hugged the emotional designer as he bowed and admitted to the audience that he was very proud. Backstage were Abloh’s parents, Eunice and Nee, waiting patiently to congratulate their son. This was their first time in Paris to witness his work and both said it had been an emotional two days. His mother said she had two words of advice for her son before the show: be cool. Abloh succeeds Kim Jones, who makes his debut at Dior Homme on Saturday, in the role. The baton has been passed amicably between the two, with Abloh seen as a complementary successor, given their talents at creating cult products and the hype that goes with them. Vuitton’s collaboration with the skatewear brand Supreme under Jones’s watch in January 2017 contributed significantly to its owner LVMH’s 29% profit increase that year. Abloh has also created sell-out collaborations, including the Off-White x Nike Air Jordan 1 Chicago trainer, for which resale prices exceeded $2,000 (£1,500). It looks set to continue, as in Virgil’s vocabulary C is for collaboration. An emotional Virgil Abloh, right, walks towards his mentor, Kanye West, left, after the show. Photograph: Swan Gallet/WWD/Rex/Shutterstock In the first three months of 2018, LVMH’s fashion and leather goods arm posted organic revenue growth of 16%. It said it had been helped by its titular brand’s “remarkable start to the year” and would be looking for its new star designer to capitalise on that. Abloh, meanwhile, remains humble. He has previously said he “just wants to live up to the greats of fashion”, but is clearly intent on redefining a new era in the process. “Tides change when positions evolve,” Abloh mused earlier this year. In that dictionary, Z stood for: “If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your time.”<doc-sep>Virgil Abloh's appointment as artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton back in March was the latest addition to the multi-hyphenate's long list of gigs—but by far the biggest. The designer/DJ/collaborator/do-it-all-er has been given the reins of one-half of a multibillion-dollar fashion brand and the chance to prove himself as more than just the Pied Piper of streetwear. And in Abloh, Vuitton has a cool-kid-approved weapon to combat the ever-changing (and increasingly fickle) fashion and retail landscapes. Watch Kanye and Virgil Abloh Hug It Out After the Louis Vuitton Show Grab your tissues. Abloh might not have the same pedigree as other recognizable designers at other big-name houses, but that's seemingly worked to his advantage in the past six years, as Off-White has ascended from a T-shirt-and-hoodies lineup to become a full-fledged player in the fashion space (also: it sells a lot and it sells fast). Even his creative process is a shift from the under-lock-and-key ways most houses operate (see: the reveal of his first designs on LV's Instagram in the past few days). There's been so much speculation about what an Abloh-helmed Vuitton will look like, but today's the day we finally get to see it. Watch the show, live from Paris, here at 8:30 A.M. EST:<doc-sep>
Virgil Abloh and Rihanna after the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2019 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 21, 2018, in Paris. Photo : Pascal Le Segretain ( Getty Images ) In March, Virgil Abloh made headlines when he was announced as the new artistic director of menswear for Louis Vuitton, becoming the first African American to hold the position. (Might I add, we’re still shook and inspired by that.) Today, Thursday, Abloh debuted his first collection for Louis Vuitton Men. As he walked the runway to take his final bow, his first triumphant embrace was with friend Kanye West, with a hug that seemed very emotional but filled with joy. This was a great week for Abloh, as his own label, Off-White, also premiered his Bart Simpson-inspired collection in Paris. Abloh has steadily worked his way up to this level of success. Back in ’09, he and fellow Chicagoan West interned together at Fendi. West later appointed Abloh the creative director of his agency, Donda. (Editor’s note: West recently clarified that Abloh was not his creative director, but his “creative collaborator.”) Along with West in the front row were wife Kim Kardashian West and her sister Kylie Jenner with boyfriend Travis Scott. Other faves were there as well, such as Rihanna, model Naomi Campbell, rapper A$AP Rocky and actor Chadwick Boseman. Not content to have celebs only in the audience, Abloh also featured Kid Cudi, Playboi Carti and Steve Lacy as models in his show. Abloh did it for the culture, and the culture came out to support. Check out some of the stars in the crowd: