Ib Kamara and Off-White have rolled the dice. After two years as “art and image director” of the brand founded by the late, great Virgil Abloh, Kamara has just signed Off-White’s offer to act as its fully-fledged creative director. Now is the time for Off-White to start building in earnest on the opportunity to become luxury’s first 21st century heritage brand based on the founder’s generational impact on fashion and culture.
There was a lot going on here this morning. As Kamara dryly observed: “What I’ve realized working on this collection is that I’m just not a minimalist.” That was all to the good in a coed show that worked to integrate Off-White’s codes, Abloh’s legacy discourse of postmodern streetwear, and Kamara’s own identity both as a long-term collaborator with Abloh and a creative force in his own right.
Womenswear came out first. Kamara used the outerwear template of an anorak/parka as the template from which to deconstruct and then rebuild dresses, corseted shirting, waistcoats, and bombers. Fake fur trim in synthetic green lined collars, with strapping meant to reference the brand’s arrow logo. It was wound around outerwear and used as a sort of ribcage over printed eveningwear. One red minidress was composed entirely of strapping. The fringed beading that hemmed bras, deconstructed sports jersey tops, and wrap varsity jacket dresses referenced Kamara’s African identity, as did the specific draping and techniques in some pieces. A counterpoint came from the all-American sportswear ribbing that Kamara transferred from cuff or hem to use as the halter neck in dresses or the straps on sandals.
Crossing to menswear, Kamara opened with more Dr. Seuss fur—hats this time—whose green was echoed in the grid of stars that played across jersey full looks in logo check. There were some interestingly regal looks that put brocade coats over monochrome tracksuits with fringed legs in more West African–sourced beading. And there was a new sneaker named The Baller that literally played with the codes of basketball: This, you suspected, will be a love-or-hate product. Kamara said: “Off-White is the brand that is supposed to take risks and be inventive and have a new point of view all the time. I think I’m finding my point of view in Virgil’s universe, but there is me in there too.”
