Off-White™ SS21 Represents the Many Channels of "Imaginary TV"
Slick sportswear meets sharp suits in a digital world.
Despite a history of lofty presentations, never has Off-White™ realized a presentation as elevated as its Spring/Summer 2021 show. Realized as both a multi-media experience and proper runway, the collection — dubbed “Adam is Eve” — is displayed alongside “Imaginary TV,” a deeply interactive digital world.
An international group of performers — including several based in Off-White™’s native Milan — showcase their skills in a host of disparate settings, fleshing out the label’s artistic purview beyond mere clothing. Ranging from Nigerien rocker Mdou Moctar (whose “Ilana” and “Chimoumounin” soundtrack the runway show) to Tai Chi Olympian Liang Biying to a crew of free climbers and Off-White™’s in-house artisans, the pool of talent runs deep and wide. The creatives were selected by Off-White™ founder Virgil Abloh so as to capture “a universal approach to creativity,” the show notes explain, drawing from tenets of inclusivity and new notions of interaction.
“I want to connect and generate a global network, and bring together creativity while catalyzing a range of emotions,” said Abloh in a statement. “We’re living in a world and at a time that is already largely digitally native. Within the collection itself, I wanted to capture what it is to be human at this very moment. Conundrum is OK, glitches are OK, duality is OK, and a dissolution of norms is OK.”
As for the apparel, “Adam is Eve” is packed with updated elements of Off-White™’s stylistic core. Athleticwear co-mingles with boxy, flowing suits that mix and match patterns and colors. Draping knitwear boasts tall necklines pulled above the mouth in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and ruched halter tops are styled over workwear-adjacent plaid shirts and collared shirts. Genderfluid bags, blazers and accessories retain the cut-out motif seen in previous Off-White™ collections, demonstrative of Abloh’s evolving design ethos.
Visit Off-White™’s Imaginary TV site to experience the collection proper and watch it in action above. There’s also a new shoulder bag seen on the runway that’s already shoppable on Off-White™’s website.
Meanwhile, several of Abloh’s peers recently served up their own seasonal looks, including AMBUSH, Heron Preston and 1017 ALYX 9SM.
