“Celebration” is Off-White’s Spring Name Show , at the Ateliers Berthier in Paris last night. X-ray-printed blazers, cutouts and cowboy boots with arrowheads fill the industrial space built by architect Charles Garner to house sets for the Paris Opera House. It’s a fitting venue to honor the late multi-hyphenated designer Virgil Abloh, who started work this spring 6337440 collected before his death last year.
As he inspected and experimented with every piece that walked the “Impossible Blue” runway last night, Off-White’s The new image and art director, Ibrahim Kamara, realized it was a celebration. After all, Abloh is often drawn to the warm shade of indigo, which blankets the runway and where models stare every now and then, thanks to a blue pigment from the Paperwork beauty line.
“I want to be playful, but charming,” makeup artist Hiromi Ueda Backstage said she was holding a labyrinth shade of Paperwork’s all-purpose crayons. “It’s beautiful, sexy, and confident.” Ueda relies on only two color sticks from the beauty line, Maze and Jet (inky black), to complete each look. For a jet-black stare, Jet faded the edges with a blending brush for a smoky finish – of course, finished with a pop of Maze on the lower waterline. A more subtle version seen in models of all genders, especially those dressed in white (known as the “pure” look), consists of tracing along the lower waterline and wiping away for an almost imperceptible “wear and tear” eyeliner” effect maze composition.
From the huge room, however, you can see the “bold blue” graphic wings that hairstylist Jawara calls a “darker blue look.” He and Ueda discussed glam rock’s direction ahead of the show, with words like “tough” and “playful” describing the mood. Jawara ended up offering the models slim mullet and pixie wigs along with ears of corn, sleek backs and an azure buzz. “I think they complement the hair well,” Jawara said of the final look. “We came up with it together.” It reflects Off-White’s larger goal of elevating its small circle of artists and expresses the collaborative spirit that continues to define Abloh’s legacy.
