Louis Vuitton presented its freshly-minted Spring/Summer 2023 menswear edit for the second time at Arayna in China, launching myriad never-before-seen looks.
For the Spring-Summer 2023 Spin-Off show in Aranya, the French fashion house expands on the idea of the magnified playground that was first showcased in Paris in June. A cinematic prelude titled Mirage, which was created in a collaborative effort between Chinese directors Jia Zhangke and Wei Shujun, portrays themes of childhood, discovery and community.
Shot in the city of Dunhuang, on the edges of the Gobi Desert, the film stages a contemporary confluence between East and West, as reflected in the poetry of history. The story takes its audiences to the Aranya beach, where the spin-off show unfolds in a sandscape moulded with the tools at the root of a collection that’s founded on the infinite possibilities of craftsmanship. Live-scored by the Beijing-based band Sleeping Dogs, the presentation features a performance choreographed by the Chinese dancer Hou Ying.
The collection explores a relation between ‘imagination’ and ‘reality’, which was conceived and created by the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme – an ever-evolving ecosystem of creative minds, who welcomed Virgil Abloh to the Maison in 2018 and expanded during his eight seasons of artistic direction. A living testament to his talent for bringing people together, they populate a creative playground more than a century in the making.
For Spring/Summer 2023, there’s an eclectic range of ready-to-wear workwear and monogram-infused pieces as well as accessories such as belts and bags. Other clothing items such as coats, shorts, skirts and workwear are woven in three-dimensional tile towelling as a sculptural jacquard fil chenille in coats and suits, kaftans, pyjamas and coats and knitwear. We see a heavy emphasis on tie-dye and embroideries in various combinations. The colour palette features a mix of yellow, lilac, blue, green and black.
