Kim Jones, the British men’s style director of Louis Vuitton, showed his final collection for the brand in Paris on January 18, 2018. Here’s the 411
Kim Jones, the much feted men’s style director of Louis Vuitton showed his final collection for Parisian super brand today. As much a greatest hits collection as it was a forward-looking manifesto for the future of men’s fashion, Jones presented a collection rich in sportswear references (as is the designer’s wont) including a series of jersey tops and parkas finished with dramatic crater prints, crocodile backpacks and double-faced cashmere baseball tops.
The nomadic mood, so present in all of Jones’ collections for Vuitton, were less focused on one area this time round and had a more global perspective. There were rodeo inspired flankman-shorts, intarsia mink coats from Russia and Siberia and the aforementioned crater print captured from a helicopter on a flight above Kenya, a country close to the designer’s heart (he spent much of his childhood there).
The show closed with a series of plasticated looks cut from Vuitton’s classic brown monogram canvas (modeled by Jones’ friends Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss: a fitting close to his seven-year tenure.)
Name a more iconic duo than Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. The supermodels appeared together on the runway for the first time in years at Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2018 menswear show. Each wore a monogrammed Louis Vuitton trenchcoat and hiking boots and walked amid Vuitton’s cargo jacket–clad male models. Trend-wise, there were python hiking boots (perhaps the best looking take on the hiker trend yet), heavy-duty trainers, western shirts in python (naturellment) and plenty of outdoorsy climbing references: an elegantly on-trend (not to mention superbly fabricated) masculinity only Jones can bring. “It’s about clothes that can change, about fabrics that can travel on the body - and transform” says Jones. “Discovering something new. A constant voyage." At the end of the show, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell appeared arm in arm with their friend Kim Jones, the departing LV menswear designer. It’s yet to be confirmed where said voyage will take Jones now that he’s departed LV, be it Burberry or Versace, but after 14 stellar shows and countless commercial hits there are some big sneakers to fill at Vuitton HQ.