This past December, Virgil Abloh prophesied to Dazed that streetwear in its current form could die out in the decade ahead, sparking major controversy amongst fashion fans and hypebeasts.
While Abloh’s words were quick to cause a reaction, his off-the-cuff comment was largely removed from its wider context. “How many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers?” Abloh asked, in conversation with Emma Hope Allwood. “I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a boxfresh something; it’ll be like, hey I’m gonna go into my archive.”
Now, in a new interview with Vogue to raise awareness for his upcoming capsule collection, Louis Vuitton squared or LV², the LV men’s artistic director addressed the comment. “I didn’t say it to be polarising,” he explained to Nicole Phelps. “(Streetwear) always had this sort of nine lives, dying and coming back… Partially what I meant that ‘it will die’ is that new things like tailoring from guys like Nigo and me will be born from the regeneration of it.”
The LV² collection is a collaboration between the artistic director and Japanese streetwear icon Nigo, founder of BAPE and Human Made. Merging the quintessential Louis Vuitton monogram with Nigo’s aesthetic, the upcoming collab does exactly what Abloh said – creating an elevated, street-wear inspired collection including fresh tailored pieces, bags dripping with a new Louis Vuitton² logo, denim co-ords, and a jacket with a colourful graphic of Mt. Fuji on the back.
LV² is set to release through two in-store drops – coming June 26 and August 28.