Contrast is a powerful thing. Athletes will tell you that water tastes best after a gruelling workout; after a frigid day on the slopes, skiers know that nothing is delicious as a warm hot chocolate. The fashion world is no exception. Towards the end of a long summer, designers, stylists, and casual consumers can all appreciate a seasonal contrast. After a sun-drenched June and July — and Toronto regularly boiling above thirty degrees — we’ve ran through a summer’s worth of shorts and tees. With a taste of salt air, August has us looking ahead to autumn. Filled with layers, light jackets, and plenty of juxtapositions, the new Louis Vuitton Men’s Collection meets the moment.
As an art form, fashion grapples with duel intent: aesthetics and functionality. Faced with competing interests, utilitarian garments like water shoes and snow pants often falter, abandoning form for function. Seasoned fashion designers, however, treat this dichotomy as a feature — not a ‘bug’ — of the medium. The new Louis Vuitton Men’s Capsule gracefully dives into its contradictions.
Above, you’ll notice a few key themes. Perhaps the flashiest is a study in micro and macro colour; the collection delicately threads the needle, balancing subtle shades like mocha and navy with loud pops of neon — vibrant shades of green and red borrow from streetwear. Louis Vuitton creates a blended wardrobe, offering a curated selection of office-ready refinement and soft coats for weekends at the cottage.
Even as it ranges from cashmere overcoats to grey wool tracksuits, texture and repetition lend the collection a sense of cohesion. Materials and motifs pop up like family traits; the ‘Monogram Macro’ incorporates traditional Louis Vuitton Monogram flowers onto the panels of black suede blousons and grey denim suits alike.
Still, we haven’t mentioned the most bombastic feature of the new Louis Vuitton Men’s Capsule: a collaboration with the estate of South Korean painter Park Seo-bo. An artist and trailblazer, Seo-bo’s large-scale, monochromatic works brought global attention to the art scene in post-war South Korea. His œuvre is distinctive, filled with repetitive lines and waves running across the canvas.
Seo-bo’s signature practice — innovative, ceaseless repetition — erodes the boundaries between painting, mark-making, and meditation. The new capsule transposes Seo-bo’s linear patterns onto ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, and accessories. With pops of colour and sleek lines, the garments recall his first collaboration with the Maison on 2019’s ArtyCapucines project. Given his boundary-blurring qualities, the work of Park Seo-bo makes a thoughtful contribution to Louis Vuitton “Fall” Capsule.
References are found across the collection: a 1996 painting from Seo-bo’s Écriture series, numbered 960728, informs a black velvet shirt and tracksuit; shorts, hoodies, and relief knits nod to 2002’s No.021015; a neon green blouson transposes a work from 2022, numbered 30-22.
Leather goods synthesize the styles of Park Seo-bo and Louis Vuitton. Epi leather, a signature material from Louis Vuitton, interprets the Écriture series in bold reds, greens, and blues. Inside, luxe beige lining symbolizes traditional Korean hanji paper. Each leather good comes with a tag to note which of Seo-bo’s works inspired the pattern.
Sparkles of silver round out the Louis Vuitton “Fall” Capsule. Men’s jewellery, ever a growing space, has quickly become a staple of the fashion house. Silver adornments introduced in the Fall-Winter 2024 Men’s Collection evolve; sleek inscriptions of LV letters and flowers build a link between tie pins, earrings, and bracelets.
At the height of summer, the new Louis Vuitton Men’s Capsule Collection is a welcome step forward. Set to drop in September, we’re anxiously awaiting the online launch.
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