by Ayite Kester Messan-Hilla
The body is adorned through a variety of means. Tattoos, earrings, eyewear, clothes, and bags are a number of ways that Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director Virgil Abloh has chosen to adorn his models for his Fall 2019 collection. Virgil’s Taiga Rainbow motif is an an added embellishment that comes alive in the campaign, shot in Japan by Japanese photographer Kenta Coboyashi.
Kenta Coboyashi’s art is in adornment—adorning images that is. Coboyashi’s skillset could be described as ‘digital tagging’, using computer softwares to paint on his canvas. Coboyashi has full authority over his digital pen, creating motion and movement in his photographs. These photographs become multi-dimensional, abstracted interpretations of a still.
Virgil Abloh’s collaboration with Kenta Coboyashi marks the second installation of Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2019 campaign. These campaigns not only share commonality in being based in Japan, but they both showcase the power that lies in distortion. Distortion is a form of invention. In challenging how and why a campaign should present, the Louis Vuitton team become engineers of fashion’s future.
Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director | Virgil Abloh
Photographer | Kenta Coboyashi