After last week’s stellar FW19 presentation for Paris Fashion Week Men’s and a Pre-Fall 2019 lookbook modeled by all your favorite female leads in Hollywood and music, Louis Vuitton is now unveiling the brand’s official ads for Spring/Summer 2019, marking Virgil Abloh’s first campaign as creative director for menswear. Based off the first look, he definitely knocked this one right out the park.
Images: Inez & Vinoodh / Louis Vuitton
Featuring pieces we saw back in June during Virgil’s debut runway presentation in Paris, the three-part campaign is broken down into chapters, each shot by renowned photographers to capture the various elements embodied by the collection as a whole. The first, titled “Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence” (seen above), was spearheaded by Inez & Vinoodh and use three photographs that pretty much sum up each of those three stages of life. Key pieces in that portion include the Wizard of Oz-themed sweaters made in celebration of the film’s 80th anniversary.
The second was helmed by Mohamed Bourouissa, who recreated Gustave Courbet’s 1855 painting “The Painter’s Studio.” This powerful shot features, along with Virgil himself at the center of it all, notable faces like Syd Tha Kyd, Steve Lacy — making his return to LV after walking in the aforementioned SS19 show — and Octavian, who also flexed his modeling steez in the FW19 show last week. This photo in specific shows off the tailored suits and floral-themed pieces, which were easily the key standouts from the collection.
Image: Mohamed Bourouissa / Louis Vuitton
The third and final chapter was photographed by Raimond Wouda, taking on a “School Teens” theme and highlighting the T-Shirts that were originally worn by 1,500 students that were personally invited by Abloh to the SS19 show in Paris. Throughout each of these micro editorials, Abloh is able to create imagery that’s powerful, colorful and yet doesn’t distract from the actual clothes featured. It’s very reminiscent of the throwback Benetton ads from the ’80s and ’90s that sought to make impactful fashion statements via vivid, thought-provoking photography. Overall, it shows that Virgil is thinking from an aesthetic state of mind that’s just as important as the design of the pieces as a whole.
Image: Raimond Wouda / Louis Vuitton
Following the initial “Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence” chapter seen in the video below, Louis Vuitton will roll out “The Painter’s Studio” in full on February 1, followed by “School Teens” on March 22. Get the full details from the creative director himself by heading over to WWD.
