“I have to get to the airport,” pre-capped Ib Kamara at the top of our appointment in Off-White’s newly-leased showroom space across from the Fondazione Prada in Milan. But before hopping into the van, he recapped the latest moves at the brand.
The collection, so tightly presented in this lookbooklet, broadly continues the themes established here by Virgil Abloh from 2013. As Abloh’s former stylist and ongoing torchbearer, Kamara characterized this latest chapter as: “youth luxury: picking everyday functions and just wearing them and finding your own style.” The varsity jackets, hole cut-outs, and racer-related pieces were all core, as was the array of sneakers—a category comprising close to half of all sales here—that starred Off-White’s evergreen Out Of Office. Lace was patched into diagonal cut-outs angled to echo Abloh’s brand-founding graphic language in silk jersey evening pieces, while his arrows were worked into handsomely flecked jacquard knits. Inevitably, there was a monogram. There was also a faint creative story related to India, lightly articulated in the long-haired shearlings.
The most distinct direction of travel this season, however, was happening under the bonnet. Both reflecting its newish ownership but also the broader winds of consumer sentiment, Off-White is widening its pricespan: the understanding was that most categories will have some products available at around 25% less than previously, while the more elaborate and costly fabrications—like those shearlings—will stay premium. There is also a broadening in the offer typified by the recent development of 13 washes (the garment dye treatments were excellent) across multiple cuts of denim, simultaneously with the introduction of a high-jewelry category featuring exclusively lab-grown diamonds.
This felt like a layover collection: a moment of transfer en route to an altered position for the brand that both bears the name and encapsulates the heritage of arguably the most impactful fashion creative of the 2010s.
