Louis Vuitton ‘Snow’ is the Pre-Spring 2023 alpine-themed men’s capsule collection. Through his work at the Maison, the Men’s Artistic Director, Virgil Abloh – himself an avid snowboarder – continually investigated the relationship between activewear and everyday essentials.
“We live in a time of increasing awareness – of both ourselves and our surroundings – where businessmen from Paris become weekend warriors in Gstaad, and everyone is testing their own limits. We expect design to perform, to multi-function, to serve a purpose beyond the obvious,” he said. The capsule was conceived by Virgil Abloh prior to his passing on 28 th November 2021. It was realised by the creative teams and collaborators with whom he consistently worked at Louis Vuitton.
Founded in performance and versatility, the ‘Snow’ collection assimilates the codes of skiwear into a functional urban wardrobe. In the process, heat levels are tempered through the lightweight densities of padding, yarns and nylons, allowing the pieces to adapt to both alpine and metropolitan climates. The duality manifests in the appearance as well as the tactility of garments including an iridescent black jacket and an ecru gilet quilted in an LV motif, a voluminous nylon trouser lightly padded with down, and a nylon tracksuit softened with knitted LV logo sidebands. An icon of the après-ski wardrobe, fair isle motifs appear as a three-dimensional tonal stitch technique in rollnecks, blown up on a knitted jumper with chequers, and in knitted gloves and snoods likewise mixed with chequers.
Next to knitted hats, a ski visor with a knitted Louis Vuitton logo headband serves as a defining accessory in the collection alongside a snowboard boot created in collaboration with an artisanal skiwear workshop. Available in black or white, the boot observes the collection’s slope-to-street premise and has been constructed to function as an everyday boot as well as a durable alpine sports staple.
Among the bags of the Snow capsule - including icons such as the Keepall, Discovery Bumbag, Dopp Kit and the Multipocket Backpack - between 70% and 85% of the designs are eco- conceived in accordance with the Maison’s codes of circular creativity. These are the latest pieces to complete Louis Vuitton’s offer of designs realised in recycled, recyclable and responsibly sourced materials, fitting within the larger objective of 100% of Louis Vuitton creations being eco-designed by 2025.
