If Virgil Abloh was feeling nervous on Tuesday in Paris, he didn’t show it. A day away from making his Louis Vuitton debut as artistic director, the American fashion designer said he was feeling “surprisingly energised” as he unveiled the SS19 collection for his own brand, Off-White.

Virgil Abloh. Photograph: Corbis via Getty

“Jim Stark” read the invitation to the show, a reference to James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause and a savvy reminder that Abloh is currently fashion’s favourite disruptor. As such, the collection was denim-heavy; all cut up and remastered. “All of us have a pair of jeans in our closet – what can we do to make them feel new and considered?” he asked, much like the accompanying playlist.

It also featured theKraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express and a chopped version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas – another reminder that Abloh is an accomplished DJ and designers don’t just do one thing these days. Alongside jeans came the Off-White staple, the logo T-shirt, many of which were emblazoned with the face of another iconic provocateur, Bart Simpson.

Eat my shorts! Off-White pays tribute to Bart Simpson at Paris fashion week. Photograph: Pixelformula/SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock

“Yeah, the rebel without a cause! Bart Simpson is the face of that spirit – ‘I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?!’” he laughed, describing this show as “an ode to the teenager”. This was rooted in an appreciation of Abloh’s hero growing up: the pioneering New York graffiti artist Dondi White (whose name was also written on some of those white T-shirts). “I didn’t go to art school – I learned from Dondi. I was retracing the sketchbook and these New York City trains that he were painting with Prismacolor markers.” The hand-painted coats in the collection were a reflection of this inspiration.

Interestingly, Abloh’s celebration of teenage spirit was made possible this season by his appointment at Louis Vuitton, he said. “This is the first show where Off-White is unhinged from the resume that it once was. Now it is distinctly the teenager, the youth, so it’s free,” he said, describing his new adopted brand as the adult to his brand’s adolescent.

Off-White models backstage. Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

“I’m 37, I’m far from a teenager, but this brand resonates with a youth core that needs [an inspiring] designer just like I had [with Donti] when I made my way up.” Making an aesthetic distinction at this stage between the two is a smart thing to do. Louis Vuitton – whose owners, LVMH, posted a 13% revenue growth for the first quarter this year to €10.85bn bolstered by his title brand – will be surely be hoping that he brings his bankable millennial mindset with him there too.

Smells like teen spirit … oversized denim ruled the runway at Off-White. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

Acne Studios is a brand that finds itself somewhere in the middle. Younger than Vuitton, but older than Off-White with annual revenues of more than €200m (£176m), the Swedish fashion house established by Jonny Johansson and Mikael Schiller in 1997 has retained the cult Scandinavian cool factor over the years.

For spring/summer 2019, the brand collaborated with the artist Dawn Butkins, who created Rowntree Fruit Pastel-like dichroic glass sculptures for the runway, which inspired the juxtaposing colour palettes and fabrication of the collection.



Fruit Pastel tones and clashing colours at Acne Studios. Photograph: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

Johansson, who also takes on design duties, said he wanted to experiment with the definition of a garment, “making jeans with the technique of the blouson” for example. He also wanted to re-examine the preconceived finish in texture and tone of fabrics, so drenched suits and trousers cut from natural linen with luminescent neon yellow and orange hues. The aim, read the show notes, was to make the natural look artificial so to blur perception.

Also in an experimental mood in Paris was Glenn Martens, the young Belgian designer holding the reins at the Y-Project. A series of savvy collaborations – most notably with Ugg and Diesel – and celebrity endorsements from Rihanna and Kylie Jenner have put the conceptual Paris-based brand into the mainstream consciousness of late, yet its collections remain gloriously anything but.

Glenn Martens greets the fashion pack. Photograph: WWD/Rex/Shutterstock

“With my products, we always want to challenge everything a bit, so we have the pieces which are easier [to wear], but I would get really bored if I only had easy looks,” said Martens, whose “easy” is still most people’s imaginative. Jeans, for example, had dropped waistbands, panelled crotches and layered hems; jackets were part denim on the front and ruched anorak from behind; while tailoring, also ruched, was asymmetrical and top heavy.

This season, he focused his attention on creating new, layered fabrics, which came stretched, turned inside out, torn apart and sewn back together again to create new ones. “I have to challenge myself and my team and [that’s] not about being beautiful,” he explained. “It’s about experimentation and seeing what we can do – and it’s up to you to decide if you like it or don’t like it.”