It’s time to channel your inner Samantha Jones from the Sex And The City movie, because the first launch of Louis Vuitton’s limited edition “Air Force 1” sneaker designed by Virgil Abloh is dropping tonight.
Rather than donning a back pencil skirt and canary yellow jacket à la our favourite public relations executive and unmarried woman, sneakerheads, hype beasts and the fashion set will be able to nab one of the coveted designs online.
Think the sample sale from Confessions Of A Shopaholic, but virtual.
Only 200 of the Virgil Abloh designed sneakers will be available to purchase, with bidding starting at $2,000. A fair price to pay to be part of fashion history.
Fans of Louis Vuitton will know how integral this launch is to the luxury maison’s DNA.
As the first Black creative designer for the legendary fashion house, Virgil Abloh broke boundaries and contrived conventions of what it means to be a designer.
He was an architect, embracing the community that’s so often left out of fashion’s narrative with reverence and the utmost respect for the cultures that the industry are so quick to capitalise on.
The fusion of historic French codes with the hip-hop and streetwear styles that shaped Abloh’s upbringing is not to be taken lightly. Fittingly, the “Air Force 1” design and the late designer share a common thread: both children of the 80s and born a year apart.
Virgil paid homage to his inner child, an omnipresent motif that inspires everything he designed, through 47 styles of expertly-crafted footwear which tragically debuted in his magnum opus: Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2022 menswear collection.
This collection marked the final pieces Virgil would ever create. Sadly, the designer passed away two days before the collection presentation was set to take place in Miami after a private battle with cancer.
Now, nine styles from the collection will be auctioned off, which all proceeds donated to the Virgil AblohTM “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund. This eponymous program supports the education of “academically promising students of Black, African American, or African descent”.
At 6PM AEST, the sneakers will be open for bidding at Louis Vuitton’s website. While each customer will only be able to purchase one of nine styles, however each sneaker will be sold with a leather pilot case.
The tangerine dream leather trunk is a revival of a case found in the maison’s archive and embodies the spirit of the brand: the art of travel.
Due to the high demand for the kicks, customers will be chosen at random from a waiting room to purchase the sneakers. Every minute, a random and limited number of Louis Vuitton-ites will be randomly selected—and no, tributes will not be selected for this draw.
Best of luck, we’ll see you in the cornucopia.
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