Louis Vuitton S/S '21 Men’s Collection Is A Voyage With Stops Around The World!

Titled “Message in a Bottle,” the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2021 Men’s Collection will be presented in a voyage of international events from Paris to Shanghai and Tokyo. Unveiled gradually in Chapters starting in July through the end of 2020, the format demonstrates Men’s Artistic Director Virgil Abloh’s core values of diversity, inclusivity, and unity. The collection additionally proposes a multi-faceted upcycling intiative across his creative platforms.

By taking his show to sea, Virgil Abloh embraces the global community of Louis Vuitton and meets his clients in their own parts of the world. Throughout its voyage—which may add destinations along the way—the collection will transform in an evolving exchange across cultures and nations. It is a free and inclusive dialogue between the House and its audiences, which transcends the traditional rules of fashion and seasonality.

Last July 9, 2020,  the House unveiled a short film at the Louis Vuitton Maison Famille in Asnières. Shot around the ancestral Paris home of the founder, the film follows movers packing up Louis Vuitton shipping containers and loading them onto a barge, which sails down the River Seine and leaves Paris, On it a colorful crew of animated characters called “Zoooom with friends” are hiding as stowaways.

On August 6, 2020, after crossing the oceans, the shipment arrives in Shanghai and the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2021 Men’s Runway show unfolds. No longer animated, “Zoooom with friends” comes to life in the collection, which explores Virgil Abloh’s ongoing theme of boyhood: seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Each different to the other, the puppets represent the fundamental belief in inclusivity embedded within the Louis Vuion Men’s collections.

Later this year, the voyage continues to Tokyo where a third event will be staged. The Spring/Summer 2021 Men’s Collection is founded in four methods of upcycling: new looks made from recycled material, looks repeated from the Fall/Winter 2020 Collection, looks freely created by the studio during the lockdown using recycled material, and new looks created from existing ideas. These principles set the premise for the evolution of the collection.