TheChek News Flow

The founder of Off-White is a serial collaborator and a leading figure on the burgeoning streetwear scene.

PARIS — Adding yet more heat to its men’s fashion activities, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has snared red-hot designer Virgil Abloh to lead men’s design at Louis Vuitton.

Off-White’s founder succeeds Kim Jones in the role and will show his first collection in June during Men’s Fashion Week in the French capital, the luxury brand said on Monday.

“Having followed with great interest Virgil’s ascent since he worked with me at Fendi in 2006, I am thrilled to see how his innate creativity and disruptive approach have made him so relevant, not just in the world of fashion but in popular culture today,” said Michael Burke, chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton.

The executive was referring to the period when Abloh was an intern at Fendi with Kanye West, in their bid to learn more about the luxury industry. Burke was ceo of Fendi at the time, and Abloh is West’s longtime creative director.

“It is an honor for me to accept the position of men’s artistic director for Louis Vuitton. I find the heritage and creative integrity of the house are key inspirations and will look to reference them both while drawing parallels to modern times,” Abloh said in a statement.

Abloh earlier confirmed the news by posting a picture of a Louis Vuitton monogram trunk with the initials “LV” to his Instagram account, without any caption.

Earlier this month, Dior Homme named Jones its new artistic director effective April 1, six weeks after he wound up a seven-year stint at Vuitton. The two moves thrust to the forefront two marquee designers that straddle the luxury world and the explosive streetwear scene.

Jones won particular acclaim for a 2017 collaboration between Vuitton and Supreme, while Abloh created some of the most coveted sneakers in recent history with his “Ten” designs for Nike, including an Air Jordan 1 interpretation that topped many year-end rankings. A pair currently commands as much as $2,000 from after-market sellers.

Almost frenetic with his design collaborations, Abloh has teamed with a broad spectrum of brands, from Ikea and Byredo to Jimmy Choo, Warby Parker, Moncler, Umbro and Sunglass Hut. Alexandre Arnault, co-ceo of German luggage maker Rimowa, also controlled by LVMH, confirmed on Monday its long-rumored tie-up with Off-White would be hitting stores this summer.

With his clutch of famous friends and 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Abloh is sure to bring additional buzz and attention to Vuitton, which has enjoyed steady growth in recent years as Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections, brought a more youthful, modernist elan to its fashions, leather goods and communications.

In an interview last year at ComplexCon, Abloh mused on the philosophy behind his brand, Off-White.

“I can never forget my design premise. It’s in-between two things. So if I like high fashion and I like streetwear, Off-White is a reminder to be in the middle. I don’t have to choose between high fashion or streetwear. My brand reminds me that it doesn’t have to fit in a box. It can just be in a gray area,” he said.

Abloh is also an in-demand DJ, spinning this past weekend at Schimanski in Brooklyn, two days after playing a set in Miami Beach alongside Pete Tong and The Martinez Brothers.

Launched online in late 2013, Off-White held its first showroom presentation in Paris the following January with designs that merged influences ranging from Bauhaus to sports apparel and Caravaggio. It established the brand signifier: thick diagonal stripes that have become a byword for insider cool. Eighteen months later, Abloh expanded into women’s wear and staged his first runway show.

The brand made it onto the shortlist of the 2015 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, crystallizing the advent of streetwear as a credible challenger to the luxury status quo, and cementing close ties to the French luxury group.

Trained as an engineer and architect, Abloh rose to prominence as a DJ, cofounder of concept store RSVP Gallery in his hometown of Chicago, and creative director for West. He made his fashion debut in 2012 with the launch of Pyrex Vision, a short-lived label that spawned a following among streetwear aficionados.

“Back then, there was no ambition to be a fashion designer. I think my original ambition was to be an artist,” Abloh said in a 2016 interview. “I’d worked in a collaborative space, never had creative control to the final end, so with Pyrex Vision, the idea was to make a film. And in order to make the film, I needed to make these clothes.”

His rise to prominence coincided with peers such as Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, Shayne Oliver and Gosha Rubchinskiy — a group linked by their integration of web culture, art, street fashion and luxury codes.

“You know my style of clothing is basically a discourse between me and the kids. That’s what the premise of the brand is,” he told WWD in 2016. “We’re talking straight to the market. But I believe in the romantic interchange between intellectuals about fashion.”

Off-White belongs to New Guards Group, the Milan-based company that produces and distributes Marcelo Burlon County of Milan, Palm Angels, Unravel and United Standard.

LVMH is putting major muscle behind men’s wear, having lured Hedi Slimane back to the group to take over Céline and extend that 73-year-old brand into men’s wear for the first time. His first show is expected during Paris Fashion Week in the fall. (Slimane made a name for himself at Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche in the late Nineties before joining Dior to conceive Dior Homme. He subsequently returned to YSL, rechristening it Saint Laurent, for a four-year stint that ended in April 2016.)

LVMH has also been investing heavily in Berluti, now under the design leadership of Haider Ackermann, and Loro Piana, embarking on a growth phase under a new chief executive officer.

At Dior Homme, Jones succeeds and LVMH said Kris Van Assche, primarily a men’s designer, would take up a new assignment within the group.

Dior, Vuitton and Kenzo are among LVMH brands that continue to stage shows during men’s fashion week, while rival group Kering has gone the coed route with most of its banners, including Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta.

Before Jones, Dutch designer Paul Helbers headed Vuitton men’s wear for five years.

A rebound in U.S. equity futures Monday offered some hope of stabilization after last week’s rout, with shares in Asia paring losses as investors continued to assess the impact American protectionist policies will have on global growth.

Japanese equities reversed declines of more than 1 percent to end higher, while shares also gained in Seoul. Stocks stayed lower in Shanghai with investors awaiting further developments on the U.S.-China tariffs, while those in Hong Kong and Sydney also fell. Futures on the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq advanced. The yen slipped back from the strongest in more than 16 months against the dollar and Treasury yields ticked higher.

Nikkei +0.72% Hang Seng -0.14% CSI -0.98% Shanghai -0.98% Shenzen +0.86%

Eur$ 1.2367 CNH 6.3008 CNY 6.3079 JPY 105.05 GBP 1.4167 CHF 0.9483 RUB 56.9675

S&P +0.97% EuroStoxx +0.12% FTSE +0.12% Dax +0.13% SMI +0.58%

Macro :

- U.S. Tax Reforms to Boost S&P 500 ROE to 2007 High, Goldman Says

- JPMorgan Sees Market Overcoming Stock Rout, But Beware Trade War

- Bond Traders Face Gut-Check in Record $300 Billion U.S. Auctions

- Burkhard Balz to Join Bundesbank Board on Sept. 1, WamS Reports

- EU’s Vestager Says Breaking Up Google Still On Agenda: Telegraph

Keep an eye on :

- ABBN SW : ABB CEO Aims to Double Robot Output in China Within Three Years

- AD NA :

- ALV GY : *ALLIANZ, PING ARE SAID IN TALKS W/ CBA ON GEN INSURANCE OPS:AFR

- ALO FP : Enea/Energa Unit Wants GE-Alstom Bid for Ostroleka Power Project

- BMPS IM : Monte Paschi Shareholder to Propose Suing Other Banks, Directors

- EN FP : Bouygues to Buy Alpiq Units for About CHF750 Million: SZ

- BG US : Bunge Director Andreas Fibig Won’t Stand for Re-Election

- CA FP : Jeronimo Martins, Carrefour Eying Polish Piotr i Pawel: Rp.pl

- BN FP : Saudi Dairy Firm Nadec to Buy Danone Unit Via Capital Raise (1)

- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Must Reduce Complexity More Quickly, COO Tells HB

- DUFN SW : Dufry Wins Duty Free Contract for New Hong Kong Railway Station

- EVT GY : Evotec Launches Accelerated Drug Development Service Indigo

- GATE SW : Gategroup IPO Price Is Too High, According to Investors: FuW

- GIVN SW : Givaudan Buys Naturex Stake for EU522m and Makes Tender Offer

- GKN LN : Dana Increases Cash Consideration for GKN Driveline by $140m

- IAG LN : U.K. Is Said to Crack Down on Airlines’ Hidden Fees: Times

- INCH LN : Inchcape to Buy Grupo Rudelman for $284m for C. American Growth

- JMT PL : Jeronimo Martins, Carrefour Eying Polish Piotr i Pawel: Rp.pl

- JD/ LN : JD Sports to Buy Finish Line for $13.50-Share; FINL Reports 4Q

- NOM NO : Keliber Considering Listing in Helsinki in 2H, Finansavisen Says

- LBK SM : Spanish Lender Liberbank Is Open to Merger, Expansion Says

- MC FP : Louis Vuitton Names Virgil Abloh as Its New Men’s Wear Designer

- MAERSKB DC : Maersk CEO Rules Out Deals Until After Hamburg Sued Integration

- NRX FP : *GIVAUDAN TO OFFER EU135/SHR FOR NATUREX OUTSTANDING SHARES

- NOS PL : NOS Doesn’t Need to Sell Assets, CEO Almeida Tells Expresso

- NOVN VX : Novartis to Double $2B China Business Over Five Years: CEO

- RIO LN : Rio Tinto CEO Says Watch Out for ‘Tit-for-Tat’ War on Trade

- RST LN : Restore to Buy TNT Business Solutions for GBP88m

- SCHA NO : Schibsted to Adjust Reporting Structure as of Report for 1Q

- SHP LN : Shire Inks Agreement with NanoMedSyn; Terms Are Not Disclosed

- SGR LN : Shore Capital GBP41.9m Revenue in 2017, Up 6.3% y/y

- SKG ID : Smurfit Kappa Rejects Revised Proposal From International Paper

- SDY LN : Speedy Hire Says FY Adjusted Profit To Beat Expectations

- UHR SW : Swatch Group’s Breguet Has Named Thierry Esslinger New CEO

- FP FP : Oman Says in Talks W/ Shell, BP, Total on Refining Investments

- TIT IM : Telecom Italia CEO Says Most Investors Back Strategy: JDD

- UBI IM : UBI Banca Denies Report Board Discussed Paschi Merger Study

- UBSG SW : UBS Eyes Small Deals as Ermotti Sees Bank Consolidation in 2018

- VRP LN : Verona Primary Endpoint Met; RPL554 Produced Improvements

- VPK NA : Activist Investor ValueAct Reports 3.02% Holding in Vopak

- VOW3 GY : VW Board Must Become ‘Younger, More Female’: Mueller to Spiegel