Four Your Eyes Only: Virgil Abloh Plants a Hero in the Fabric of His Louis Vuitton SS19 Show

Intense red: Reagan Red or Russian Red? (photo: WWD.com)

The 5oth look of the Louis Vuitton SS19 Menswear show was an answer that changed the meaning of every look that came before and after it: it has to do with a young woman on a path to enlightenment dressed in block heels.

The outfit that opened Virgil Abloh’s debut collection for Louis Vuitton earned its opening slot. It was a baggy suit the color of a vanilla bean ice cream with sneakers, luggage and shirt all in Cool Whip-white. The other looks that glued to my brain were a blousy stand collar shirt and pants complete with a clutch purse that looked surprisingly masculine. There was a windbreaker and snakeskin shorts that were perfect for playing Wimbledon. A bowl cut and a Peter Pan collar added the youthful energy that the baggy silhouettes started, but I couldn’t get past those green gloves. They was something so adult about them.

The monochrome of a red shirt, gloves and bag was intense, and I wondered if the red was political, as in Reagan red or Russian red. The green gloves appeared again with a purple shirt and a clear green vinyl bag that resembled Jell-O. Then the 50th look arrived in the form of a hoodie printed with red poppy flowers and a sleeping Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy. The girl from Kansas was the hero embedded in the show’s clothing. This changed everything.

Vanilla bean suit (photo: WWD.com)

Snow is what woke up Dorothy and her friends from their poppies sleep in The Wizard of Oz. That brought me back to the vanilla bean suit that opened the show: the white color was the snow. The intense red was not Reagan Red, but ruby red as in ruby slippers. The black and white blur of earlier pants must have been the image of Dorothy sleeping on poppies twisted to the point of decipherability. As for those green gloves and bag, they were undoubtedly a wink to Emerald City. The bright yellow cross-body thermos on one model evoked the yellow brick road, which was the path taken by Dorothy and her friends to Emerald City.

Apparently Virgil Abloh thinks that we need to wake up and continue the journey to Emerald City aka a better world, as well as watch The Wizard of Oz. Count me in for doing both.