Louis Vuitton Names Virgil Abloh as Its New Men’s Wear Designer

Cheers to Virgil, but isn't anyone else sick of the appropriation of "low" and "street" "culture" by the luxe fashion industry? I find it disingenuous that these purveyors of overpriced veblen goods take the last area of the common man's wardrobe and transform it into something only the 1% can afford. 800 USD for a t-shirt... 900 USD Balenciaga Crocs? Ridiculous... I also strongly believe that as globalization continues its march, "consumers" are stuck looking for new ways to separate themselves from each other, and especially from the lowly "poor" classes. "Design"s are becoming gaudier and more ridiculous, and most of these pieces of apparel look like "trash," but brainless consumption "zombies" scoop it up as long as it has a logo and is noticeably GUCCI, PRADA, OFF-WHITE, SUPREME, etc. Most of the clothes look objectively terrible... and this is coming from a streetwear fan... People buy it BECAUSE it looks terrible! Virgil seems like an interesting guy, but this will get worse with Virgil at helm of LV. He is selling out to make buck. Notice how I used quotes like Virgil to operate in a "mode of ironic detachment..."

This is another case of the Emperor's new clothes. I saw some of this guy's "designs" and I am bemused at the praise heaped upon him. I know many incredibly talented black immigrant designers who can design, sculpt and sew their own magnificent creations. I'll be investing my money with them, not overrated, under-talented celebrity sycophants. How is an association with Kanye I-faux-design-rags West an endorsement in the fashion world?

I love this story and my congrats to Mr. Abloh but I really need the New York Times and other news outlets to understand that "African-American" and "black American" are not interchangeable. There are many ways to be American and many ways to be black but to be African-American is something specific and is not the same as being Ghanaian-American, Kenyan-American, Jamaican-American, etc. While there is of course overlap and influence, news outlets and researchers miss so much of a story when they equate African-American experiences with first-generation/immigrant/etc. ones. Making this distinction within reporting can be done without calling into question the "American-ness" or "black-ness" of either group. I hope that NYT and others will consider this when further publishing news stories that reflect the diversity of the U.S. Kudos to Mr. Abloh!

Oh I hope bell bottoms come back, I am old enough to have my own vintage clothing. No need to shop for new ones.

Sad to see that some people actually care about this 'fashion foppery' and pay money for this stuff. T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops work fine for millions of us. I guess that if you can't see the person, you only see the clothes.

The article omits the fact that Mr. Abloh is a college graduate - with a baccalaureate degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in 2003, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Go Badgers!

Artistic director? Sheesh, I thought the performing arts were obnoxious when they hijacked the visual arts' term curate instead of using the more accurate and less pompous term program when assembling a concert series.

An incredible breakthrough for sure, but also representative of the complete cannibalizing of streetwear (and by extension, street culture) by luxury houses who have long since run out of ideas, and in a last ditch to stay relevant have turned to the exact people they profile in their stores. Even more groundbreaking would have been for him to reject their offer.

This is exciting news for all its implications. However, LV is extremely expensive regardless of who is at the creative helm.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a sad thing? That it's the continuing decline of well-made, timeless clothing? I am reminded of a quote from a book I read recently about how much the high-fashion industry has changed. I paraphrase: People used to buy these high-end items because of what they were (well made and beautiful), but now they buy them because of that they represent.

Virgil Abloh is not African American. His family is from Ghana. Without immigration, he would not be here to celebrate this milestone. We should celebrate the accomplishments of black people withoit erasing their ethnicity and culture (we are no a monolith). Congratulations to this fantastic Ghanaian American!

Aren't there more important news items for the front page of the New York Times than who is selected to be Louis Vuitton's men's wear designer? "When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together. Fashion on this level can really open eyes.” Really? Anyone who thinks fashion design is relevant to issues like climate change, poverty, globalization, hunger and the nuclear proliferation is a credulous fool. And that the NYT panders to their readers with this type of drivel says something about just how disconnected those readers are.

The world wants street wear, everything but the struggle.

I wish him well in his new job. Louis Vuitton has always been interesting to observe, albeit, from store windows and, of course, the gauntlet of counterfeits I go through everyday near my Canal Street residence. However, if I may, I'm fully sick and tired of the word "luxury," which now carries so much socioeconomic-related baggage, the haves vs. the have-nots, lack of mobility among the poor, I could go on and on. And the constant refrain, LUXURY, as in "price upon request" for a polo shirt as advertised in a recent, dare I say, luxury magazine and the (literally) plastic handbag from a fashion house for $4,000, the ridiculous and, frankly, disturbing red carpet awards show rituals. Enough. Can we call it something more appropriate, like "self-indulgent"? I know, I know...

"When the soldier is hit by a cannonball, rags are as becoming as purple. The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires today. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable. Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable. I cannot believe that our factory system is the best mode by which men may get clothing. The condition of the operatives is becoming every day more like that of the English; and it cannot be wondered at, since, as far as I have heard or observed, the principal object is, not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but, unquestionably, that corporations may be enriched." Henry Thoreau, Walden (1854)

Virgil went to UW-Madison at about the same time as me. He was a DJ Cafe Montmarte in downtown Madison, one of my favorite bars. Even though I just met Virgil in passing, I'm so proud of him! Congratulations, Virgil!