Louis Vuitton Introduced Spring/Summer 2021 Men´s With Short Film

Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director Virgil Abloh is putting his creative skills to the test for his Spring/Summer 2021 collection. In a move away from the traditional fashion schedule, the maison has released a short film as part of Paris Fashion Week men's online. Titled “Message in a Bottle,” the Abloh-directed short film serves as an introduction to the collection, which will be unveiled gradually beginning in August and continuing through 2020.

Through the playful video, Abloh has created a virtual and literal voyage of international events starting in Paris, with stops in Shanghai and Tokyo. The main characters orchestrating the journey are a colorful cast of animated critters called “Zoooom with friends.” Outside the grounds of the fashion house founder’s ancestral home in Asnières, the cartoon animals join movers in packing up Louis Vuitton boxes before shipping out along the Seine.

Abloh’s short film upends tradition, and represents his desire to reconnect with his clientele while facilitating an open discussion among the house and its global audience. The animated characters are symbolic of Abloh’s affinity for youthfulness and boyhood, and his commitment to inclusivity across all his creative platforms.

As for the collection, which will first reveal itself on a physical runway once the “crew” docks in Shanghai on August 6, Abloh has devised each look under various approaches to sustainability. Some of the clothes are recycled looks from the Fall/Winter 2020 men's collection, while some are new ideas created during the lockdown using recycled materials or new interpretations of existing ideas. Another runway show will be held in Tokyo at a later date. In the notes accompanying the short film, the journey of “Zoooom with friends” is described as leaving Paris “a little empty.” “What you had witnessed here could be the end of a particularly riotous story,” it reads. “But it wasn’t. It was the beginning.”