The man responsible for Serena Williams’ already-iconic US Open tutu dress, followed up with his admiration for female athletes at Paris fashion week. In his most recent runway presentation staged earlier this week, Off-White Creative Director Virgil Abloh brought a crop of women in sports to the runway in the city of light.
Designer Virgil Abloh accepts applause at the end of his Off-White Spring/Summer 2019 ready to wear fashion collection presented in Paris, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The main difference between the Serena Williams collaboration and Abloh’s most recent activewear outing, is the sport of choice. For his spring/summer 2019 ready-to-wear collection, the DJ, architect, and fashion designer, ditched the tennis court for the track-and-field stadium.
While models such as Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber made runway appearances in the athletic-themed fashion show, showstoppers were eight not-so-usual fashion week suspects. American 100-meter champion English Gardner, stomped the runway alongside fellow Olympians Vashti Cunningham and Dina Asher-Smith. The three were joined by French runner Rénelle Lamote, high jumper Cecilia Yeung and Colombian gold medalist Caterine Ibargüen. Heptathletes Nafissatou Thiam and Katarina Johnson-Thompson were also amongst the chosen ones.
“It’s always a plus to stand out from anybody that’s surrounding you, especially in the track-and-field world, because you can just fall into not really being noticed or people not really recognizing your event, but if you have something that grabs people’s attention and their eye, then it gives your event more exposure and it gives you more exposure,” Abloh said in a statement to WWD, ahead of his spring/summer 2019 presentation.
Not coincidentally, all athletes cast for the show are currently under contract with sportswear giant Nike. The Off-White spring/summer 2019 collection, which was a collaboration between Nike and the brand of street-savvy luxury apparel, is the latest development in the love affair between Virgil Abloh and the Oregon-headquartered firm. 2017 Marks the year of the “The Ten” project starring Abloh and Nike. The latter was centered around ten iconic Nike (as well as Nike-owned brand Converse) shoe models, reimagined by the Off-White founding Creative Director who made his debut as Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director earlier this year.
“The Ten” was succeeded by “Queen” this August - a Virgil Abloh x Nike collection designed for Serena Williams in honor of her US Open return. The collection included tennis dresses, sneakers and Abloh’s signature quotation graphics reading “Logo” and “Serena”. "With Serena, we have one of our generation's most powerful, inspiring athletes as the muse. What I love about tennis is the gracefulness. It's an aggressive and powerful game, but it takes touch and finesse. So the dress is feminine, but combines her aggression. It's partially revealing. It's asymmetrical. It has a sort of ballerina-esque silhouette to symbolize her grace. It's not about bells and whistles and tricks. It's just about it living on the body, and expressing Serena’s spirit with each swing of the racket," Abloh said of the collection which was also produced as a limited-edition capsule.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/declaneytan/2018/09/29/virgil-abloh-cast-eight-star-athletes-in-paris-fashion-week-off-white-runway-show/
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