For my money, SSENSE is one of the best online shops in existence. The team there has taken my money many times over and it's been great. Their editorial team also brings the heat, this time with a special collection, video and interview with none other than Off White's Virgil Abloh. The collection itself is fairly standard Off White, championing the paneled bars the brand has become known for mixed with some light tie-dye patterns in blue and red to add a bit of color to Off-White's often monochromatic hoodies, shirts and bags. The short film is pretty cool too. Done with Pierre Debusschere, its shows the before and after of the garment treatments. The collection is unisex and you can shop it here.
The interview sheds a little light on how the collaboration came together and touches on Virgil's nomination for LVMH's Young Fashion Designer Prize:
I’m just one of amongst a million kids that wants to be a designer. I don’t even know exactly what that means! I just know that I’m trying to showcase what goes on in my head in a very succinct and credible way. I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a designer. To me, that was such a holy word that never seemed attainable. So I’m always wary of resting on any laurels, or even acknowledging that it’s the goal to achieve any sort of… anything. I like to think of an idea that resonates.
He also teases what's to come from the brand in the near future, mainly furniture:
Right now I’m interested in focusing and doing less. I’m focused a lot on the furniture, I’m focused a lot on the image-making surrounding the stuff. The main thing I’m focusing on is print: I’m starting a publishing arm. I’m putting out different works that I’m creating in between and around the collections, just so there’s some sort of physical copy – a representation of all these thoughts. Cause what I’m learning is that the process of making clothes, showing them to buyers, showing them to editors, and then it goes, and then it’s gone, isn’t as lasting as I would hope.
