• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Power 40
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Power 40
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home • Fashion

In Review: Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall 2021 Menswear Collection

Black Fashion Fair Founder, Antoine Gregory reviews yesterday's Louis Vuitton runway presentation.
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
By Antoine Gregory · Updated January 22, 2021

The objection of Virgil Abloh when it comes to his space in Black conversation is often loud and untenable. 

This idea that he has democratized his Blackness has at times muddied the popular view of him. Aware of the critiques that often surround him, Virgil Abloh aims to take back that narrative. Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2021 menswear show was an emphatic note to self.

Narrated by spoken word artist Saul Williams, the collection is informed by James Baldwin’s “Strangers In The Village” essay. In the essay, originally published in 1953, Baldwin declares that, while he is a stranger in the village of Leukerbad, where he is staying, he also feels like a stranger in the village of the United States. This essay sets the pace not only for the environment in which the collection is displayed, but the collection itself. It is a statement of Virgil’s place in fashion, as the first Black Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton. And his place within our community.

Abloh affirms that though we are worlds apart, Black communities often share similar experiences: similar grief, similar rage, and similar joy. That feeling that sits itself atop your gut when you feel you do not belong. It is that familiarity as Black people that we have with each other that is embedded into the fabric of this collection. Abloh has often been criticized for his inability to connect with us. The general consensus was that he was not one of us. In fact, critics believed that he had traded his Blackness in for something more shiny, polished and palatable. Seemingly, he did not grieve with the community as we continued to suffer great losses. In a presentation directed by Wu Tsuang, performed by Yasiin Bey and the stylings of IB Kamara, who has been key in Abloh’s storytelling, the collection entitled “Ebonics” seeks to explore “the presumptions we make about people based on the way they dressed: their cultural background, gender, and sexuality”, Virgil Abloh crossfades several cultural attributes surrounding the way one should dress, or be represented. 

There is no question that the collection feels Black. Rich in both culture and texture, is not devoid of context nor does it ever feel as if Blackness has been put in quotations. Focusing on beautiful textile work reminiscent of the eclecticism and vibrancy of traditional Ghanaian Kente, never has Abloh’s own culture been more apparent. The addition of Louis Vuitton‘s signature motifs throughout create a stunning display of tradition and commerce, emblematic of the Abloh brand. Of the collection, Abloh says, “Within my practice, I contribute to a Black canon of culture and art and its preservation.”

With preservation comes a responsibility to elevate our image. Abloh succeeds. The very essence of the collection speaks to Blackness all over the diaspora. A Black man on the move, yet acutely aware both socially and consciously of his surroundings. Not seeking awareness in the sense of seeking to conform, or to submit, but rather to be highlighted. We learn that even through our collective repudiation, we can reconcile. That Blackness is not yours, it is ours.

If fashion is the medium in which Abloh chooses to speak, then he has said something worth hearing. In a collection that will surely define what is next for the designer, who, born to Ghanian parents, and raised outside of Chicago, is no longer a stranger in the village that Louis Vuitton created. 

01
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
02
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
03
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
04
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
05
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
06
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
07
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
08
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
09
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
10
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
11
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
12
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
13
Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Menswear Collection
Virgil Abloh Brings Louis Vuitton Home With Fall Menswear
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now