Luxury brands look beyond design chops to broaden their appeal

Fashion is getting a little bit Groundhog Day as the continued round of musical chairs overshadows continuity at brands.

Virgil Abloh is Louis Vuitton’s new menswear designer.

Fashion is getting a little bit Groundhog Day, with the continued round of musical chairs overshadowing any sense of continuity at the major brands. Last week Buzz told of the latest shuffle at the top of the luxury houses, with Kim Jones being appointed to Dior Homme. Well, his replacement at Louis Vuitton has now been announced: Off-White founder (and DJ) Virgil Abloh (pictured) will head up the storied French house. Abloh is known for his streetwear savvy and is a master of collaborations, having joined forces with brands including Nike, Vans, Moncler and Levi’s, while his project with luggage label Rimowa is coming out in the northern summer. Given the hype around the Louis Vuitton collaboration with skatewear brand Supreme last year, Buzz is guessing there will be more to come.

Abloh enigmatically hinted at the move to his 1.8 million Instagram followers on Monday, posting a photo of a vintage Louis Vuitton monogram trunk emblazoned with the initials LV.

Michael Burke,chairman and chief executive of Louis Vuitton, later said: “I am thrilled to see how his innate creativity and disruptive approach have made him so relevant, not just in the world of fashion but in popular culture today.”

Abloh added: “I feel elated. This opportunity to think through what the next chapter of design and luxury will mean at a brand that represents the pinnacle of luxury was always a goal in my wildest dreams. And to show a younger generation that there is no one way anyone in this kind of position has to look is a fantastically modern spirit in which to start.”

There’s an interesting parallel here with his peer Demna Gvasalia, whose similarly subversive Vetements label is equally enamoured of collaborations, and with Gvasalia himself also heading up luxury house Balenciaga. Luxury, it seems, is looking to those designers with more than just design chops, but added cross-cultural clout and an engaged online community.

But wait — there’s more! And no surprises here, but Lanvin is still a house in disarray. Its latest designer Olivier Lapidus lasted half as long as his predecessor Bouchra Jarrar, being shown the atelier door after just eight months. There is also a change in management and ownership, with the house being bought by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International last month. And yes, Buzz — and the rest of the fashion world — is still awaiting news that someone has snapped up its former creative director of 14 years, Alber Elbaz. Maybe Lanvin should just bring him back.

In possibly the most exciting fashion news in recent memory, it was revealed last week that New York street-style snapper Bill Cunningham, who died in 2016, has left us possibly an even greater gift than his archive of images of the past 40 years. The incredibly private former milliner and beloved fashion identity also left behind a secret memoir, with photographs, which will be released through Penguin Press following an auction for the rights. Titled Fashion Climbing, it recounts his childhood in conservative Boston through service in the Korean War and his arrival in New York — and, according to New Yorker writer Hilton Als, who was commissioned to write a preface for the book, has a Breakfast at Tiffany’s appeal. Buzz, for one, cannot wait for its arrival in September, coinciding with New York Fashion Week, which still misses his smiling presence.

Closer to home, last week saw the official unveiling of the schedule for May’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in Sydney, akin to a fashion palindrome that opens with Camilla and Marc and closes with Camilla. However, the event itself was somewhat lacking in gravitas. No acknowledgment of country, some uninspired speeches, most alarmingly from Adam Marshall, the NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events. Did we really need to hear how he was missing reality television show Married at First Sight to be there? And spend the next five minutes discussing the show and its contestants, to growing disbelief from those attending? Buzz thinks not.