Louis Vuitton Men’s F/W 2021 Show
- Date 21 Jan. 2021
- Location France, Switzerland
- Creative director Virgil Abloh
- Show creative direction Josh Johnson
- Set design Playlab
- Graphic design Marco Fasolini
- Art direction and research leads Mahfuz Sultan, Chloe Sultan
The Gap Between Outsiders and Insiders
If we attempt to translate the feelings of the outsider into a space, what form might it take? Louis Vuitton’s Men’s F/W 2021 Show begins with a reference to James Baldwin’s widely acclaimed essay Stranger in the Village (1953). As in the essay, in which Baldwin describes the frustration and loneliness of being the only black in a village in Switzerland, the space of the show itself appears cold and fragmented. Models walk their own separate paths in an indifferent manner as if unable to see each other, but then at points they exchange bags and engage with each other. An African wearing a kente robe of a Scottish tartan pattern, an Asian clothed in a kilt, and an European in a suit embroidered with a traditional African pattern; they freely roam around a three-dimensional space to create a visual scene that expresses a sense of displacement.
All of these movements also take place in a space that pays homage to the Barcelona Pavilion (1929) by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lily Reich. The original ceiling has been replaced with Barrisol lighting, while marble panels are dismantled into pieces like Lego blocks. The space is surrounded with partition walls and thus completely isolated from the external world. The stage for the show, which looks like part of an architectural rendering image, overturns the historical meaning of Barcelona Pavilion. It transforms and undermines spaces of the ‘International Style’, which became synonymous with white European male architects, into a space that makes the intersection of different cultures possible. A diversity-dependent mismatch takes place. By translating the pavilion into a stage which establishes a new concept of contemporary justice, Louis Vuitton initiates a more profound shift in the original
meaning of the pavilion. The space of the show seems to be raising several questions: Who has ownership of a culture? If ownership of a costume is reappropriated or translated, should its materiality, history and cultural associations also change accordingly? Do outsiders really exist in an era in which exchange and translation is constantly taking place? After all, a space left unclaimed will be occupied by outsiders. In the field of art, everything evolves in an organic way, and the meaning of ‘ownership’ has become obscure and yet its influence has grown stronger. For those of us who have experienced the year 2020, the word ‘normal’ no longer retains any meaning. To break down occupational, cultural and racial prejudice based on clothing, Virgil Abloh, creative director at Louis Vuitton, has declared: ‘Now is the time to explore the ‘new normal’, an ecosystem where art-loving outsiders and knowledge-seeking insiders can blend in with each other.’ (written by Irene Yoo / edited by Kim Yeram)
