Virgil Abloh presents his Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2019 collection

After what can only be deemed a very successful first collection for Louis Vuitton, creative director Virgil Abloh recently presented his second collection during Paris Fashion Week last month. Shifting the aesthetic towards more monochromic styles he's now unveiled the Pre-Fall 2019 collection which can quite fittingly be seen as a neat, yet slightly adventurous, transition between the two styles, exploring the intersection between boyhood and menswear.

“The pre-collection was a safe haven to test out ideas, to start defining that palette.”

Virgil Abloh

Classically themed fall colors such as black, grey, brown and beige meet more adventurous stripes and logo branded attire, including jackets, trenchcoats, fleeces, suits, and shirts. Of course there’s also more of the hyped harness that even in their minimal simplicity are still for many the standouts of the collections. Abloh himself calling it the “keystone” of his Louis Vuitton vision.

“It was the actual very first thing I designed,” he said. “I wore it to the Met Gala - It doesn’t have the comfort or the security of a jacket, but it’s somehow empowering.”

Also not hurt by the fact that A-class celebs like Michael B. Jordan and Timothée Chalamet have been seen wearing them at various red carpet events. The harness which Abloh defines as a “mid-layer garment” has been included in several new additions for both his pre-fall and fall collection. Though for him personally, the focus of the season is all about Staples, naming his pre-fall capsule range, the Staples Edition. 

“It’s clothing that you wear and don’t think twice about, it’s letting the savoir faire and the quality be the main signifiers and reasons to purchase.” 

For the accessories, Virgil employs what he’s dubbed “accessomorphosis” which is the idea of morphing garments with bags and “compressomorphosis” allowing bags to be compressed for travel featured throughout the accessories range. 

Going deeper into Abloh's vision, Louis Vuitton has just released a short interview where Abloh reflects on the roots of what luxury fashion is and how he has tried to interpret that for his process in designing these collections. Watch the video interview below and check out the images above of Virgil's new Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall collection.