When Michael Burke was heading Louis Vuitton, he realized that men’s fashion shows can as much be about fashion as about entertainment for a mega brand like LV. So the Virgil Abloh shows brought for example full blown architectural kites on the back of suited up models and when the ultimate disruptor of fashion passed too early, he signed up none other than a kid from Brooklyn called Colm Dillane to step in for a show for Fall/Winter 23/24. One easily forgets that Dillane already has this mega runway outing under his belt, a very prestigious feat. Plus, he won the Lagerfeld prize at the LVMH awards in 2021. He stands for wild patchworks, fluorescent visuals, pop art and other wildly eclectic influences as football because bad boys like Ronaldinho or yesterday Mario Balotelli appear on his runways closing the show. Dillane can paint and most of his pieces are walking art in some way just like yesterday’s animated show was based on a children’s book he wrote and self-published entitled “The Boy Who Jumped the Moon” owing a fair bit to Saint-Exupéry‘s “Le Petit Prince.” Fashion shows as happening and photo op like KidSuper have become more and more common in Paris.

King of the collab?

But most of all Dillane is the king of the collab and yesterday he pulled off one with Mercedes-Benz as the latest addition to their Class of Creators. His CLA art piece car stood in the lobby of the venerable Musée des Arts décoratifs where fellow American Thom Browne had his epic Olympian Haute Couture show last summer. Dillane patch worked together a car with wings which looked unlike any other concept car we have seen from the Stuttgart company before, it was a Mad Max fairytale.

The CLA art piece stood in the lobby of the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris

Have we seen this before?

Dillane loves his dilettante image and the naïve approach he brings to fashion. He is the creator of whimsical images but at the same time there are too obvious references to Balenciaga or Comme des Garçons in his collection. The line up of suiting and sportswear felt very repetitive even if there were a few great ideas like a women’s skirt with exaggerated cube shape and round top which was worthy of his fashion ambition.