From Ghana to Brooklyn, Off-White’s Streetwear Odyssey
Review of Off-White Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Cross-cultural. Athletic. Street-ready.
Held on a Brooklyn basketball court, Off-White’s first show in New York celebrated the idea of American style through an outsider’s perspective, an imagined pop-culture melting pot of free expression and over-the-top style.
Titled “Duty Free,” the collection found its genesis in creative director Ib Kamara’s recent trip to Ghana, the country from which the parents of the brand’s iconic founder Virgil Abloh immigrated to the U.S. References to the country’s traditional painting, weaving, and other craft techniques lent a strong direction to the brand’s streetwear staples of zipped-up denim, oversized outerwear, and bodycon moments, and post-athleisure.
Bags inspired by carry-on cargo with plenty of pockets nicely developed the theme of geographical relocation into an accessory that will most likely be one of the collection’s big selling points. What felt missing from the collection, however, was a sense of luxury and elevated artisanality, almost as if the brand’s move away from Europe also meant it lost a bit of its sense of European prestige.
THE DIRECTION
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THE QUOTE
This collection was triggered by a trip to Ghana, the place where Virgil came from and the roots he cherished and constantly referred to in his work. I was born in Sierra Leone, and eventually grew up in London, but our experiences were similar. I have vivid memories of what America, and New York in particular, represented in the collective imagination of Africans: a dreamland of utopias made real, a place of opportunities.”
THE WRAP UP
Off-White is continuing to perhaps stray a bit too much into streetwear territory without maintaining the balance of artisanship and innovation that made Virgil Abloh’s vision so successful in the first place. Nonetheless, the collection had a strong sense of cross-cultural narrative and told this story convincingly through some standout pieces. The American dream may be very different from the American reality – but on the runways of Off-White’s first stateside show, those worlds became one.
