Virgil Abloh has designed a bracelet to raise money for UNICEF.
The 39-year-old creative director’s Silver Lockit is the latest addition to Louis Vuitton’s LVforUNICEF collection, and $100 from the sale of each of the $430 pieces will be donated to the organization, to help provide children in areas of conflict or disaster with access to basic resources such as water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health, and protection services.
The design is influenced by the fashion house’s spring/summer 2020 collection and features a twisted cord – in one of four colors, black, orange, green, and blue speckled with yellow – linked by a small silver padlock bearing Louis Vuitton’s iconic logo.
The bracelet is also inspired by the tumbler lock, which was invented by Georges Vuitton in the 19th century to protect a client’s most precious belongings.
According to a statement, it was officially selected in 2016 “as a symbol of sealing one’s promise to help children at risk.”
Meanwhile, Virgil – who launched his career as an intern at Fendi in 2009 recently recalled how he found the fashion industry not to be “particularly welcoming” when he first set foot into the business as he reflected on meeting Kanye West at a show in Paris 10 years ago.
He said: “It wasn’t particularly welcoming but the irony was that there was no security at the door of that Comme des Garçons show we wanted to get into. It was almost like, ‘Why would you come to a fashion show?’ It would be like walking into some random hotel conference for doorknobs and sitting down.”
Abloh also presented a new collection at Paris Fashion Week where it was a family affair on the Off-White runway with Bella Hadid opening the show, Gigi Hadid closing it, and their mother, Yolanda Hadid, walking mid-runway. Speaking on this historical moment, Virgil Abloh reflected on what makes them perfect Off-White muses. According to Vogue, he said, “Off-White is my diary, it’s my journal of what I’m seeing and what I think is important.”
