According to no one less than streetwear king Virgil Abloh, streetwear is dead. Stone-dead. So, now that the biggest trend of the past decade? Abloh has the – surprising – awnser to this question as well.
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The slow death of streetwear
Earlier this year, Dazed Magazine asked Virgil Abloh about the direction of streetwear in 2020. His answer was short and straightforward: “Wow. I would say it’s gonna die, you know?” Ok. We didn’t see that one coming.
Of course, we’ve noticed the shift towards formal daywear such as tuxedo suits and oversized blazers combined with pearls. However, the slow death of streetwear comes at a surprise. The way in which Abloh has pushed streetwear-inspired collaborations across the fashion industry during the fast decade, didn’t point at the death of streetwear.
Despite working for Louis Vuitton and his own label Off-White, Abloh squeezed successful collaborations with Ikea and Nike, designing costumes for New York City Ballet, developing a swimwear collection, dressing Serena Williams, suing knock-off brands and designing cinderella-inspired shoes for Jimmy Choo into his schedule.
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Vintage
We can conclude Abloh is the one who transformed the fashion industry over the past years. Therefore, he’s probably right. Abloh further explained: “In my mind, how many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers? I think that like we’re gonna hit this like, really awesome state of expressing your knowledge and personal style with vintage – there are so many clothes that are cool that are in vintage shops and it’s just about wearing them.” On top of this: “I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a boxfresh something; it’ll be like, hey I’m gonna go into my archive.”
Well, that’s a good thing, since new produce should slow down to create a livable situation for the next generation. For Off-White’s Fall 2020 men’s collection, Abloh focused on formal wear as well. After his few months rest, he made his re-entrance with the aim “to offer things that aren’t just surface level. Streetwear is a term that is just used to make things flat”, as told to Vogue. Abloh rather focused on knits, formal wear and other chic ensembles. It showed Abloh is preparing his label for the future, while fighting against the boxes Off-White has been put into.
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After all, Abloh understands today’s culture like no other. He predicts and creates trends and knows what works well. Therefore, we’re happy to believe him. What will your next vintage treasure be?
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