Virgil Abloh opened his debut men’s runway show for his Off-White label with an unexpected nod to tradition: A black suit and coat with a distinctly sartorial bent.
Citing Lucio Fontana’s slashed paintings as inspiration, he pinned ripped panels to the back of oversize raw canvas coats. But Abloh took Fontana’s gesture mainly as a conceptual cue for a lineup that mixed tailoring with utilitarian elements.
Crocodile belts by the yard, trailing from the waist, were lined with a yellow lashing strap of the kind used to secure heavy loads. Traditional men’s wear materials — camel, herringbone and plaid — were spliced with fabrics in institutional shades of orange and brown.
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Abloh sprinkled in signature details, like a truncated Nebraska print on a black trenchcoat, or oversize ring pullers on shearling jackets that looked like surefire commercial hits. But more impressive than any individual item was his unerring instinct in editing the mix.