Louis Vuitton pays tribute to Virgil Abloh at boutiques

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Dec 7, 2021

Still reeling from the shock of the untimely death of the creative director for its menswear collections, Virgil Abloh, Louis Vuitton is paying tribute to the designer. Instead of its traditional Christmas decorations, the brand has chosen to cover the windows of its global flagships with large, brightly colored panels, reminiscent of the rainbow hues favored by Abloh, who passed away on November 28, following a battle with cancer. 

 
A monumental rainbow-colored statue of Abloh was also the centerpiece of Louis Vuitton's most recent menswear runway show, which paid homage to the late designer's memory in Miami on November 30, bringing together some 1,500 guests, including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Bella Hadid, Pharrell Williams, as well as the entire Arnault family. 
 
From Paris' Champs-Elysées to Milan, via New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, London, Moscow, Taipei, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore, Istanbul, Bangkok and Madrid, the vividly colored windows of Louis Vuitton flagships around the world proclaim "Virgil was here." This phrase was also used as the name of the Miami show, in reference to the way in which Abloh sometimes printed the slogan as a kind of signature on the famous and highly coveted sneakers of his brand, Off-White. 

Other windows display a selection of quotes from the American designer, such as "Let your imagination run riot," "Everything I do is for the 17-year-old version of myself," and "I’m a dreamer. I think about how long my ideas can impact or bring a different voice to the rest of the world."

The posters have been in place for a few days now, while Abloh was buried during a private ceremony in his hometown of Chicago on December 6.