Back in 2000, downtown New York City skateboard shop turned streetwear label king Supreme launched a line of clothing and skateboard decks with an LV-inspired logo that looked all too similar to the real thing. The result? An official cease and desist letter from Louis Vuitton requiring them to stop selling the collection and issue an immediate recall. Of course none of Supreme’s customers listened, and today many of those items still pop up on popular streetwear sites selling for even more than the real thing itself.
Fast forward 17 years later and now the two have apparently mended fences and come together to create a legitimate collaboration that’s blowing up the internet and turning the fashion and streetwear scenes on their head.
Rumored now for quite some time, the collection finally debuted yesterday during Paris Fashion Week as part of Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter 2017 show, and a who’s who of the fashion and streetwear world were on scene to capture it, including famed fashion blogger and designer Nick Wooster (who’s Instagram shot serves as our cover), Usher, A$sap Bari, David Beckham, Kate Moss, and a host of other fashionistas and celebrities.
As the official statement read, “Supreme and Louis Vuitton collaborate for the first time, creating a capsule collection of clothing, accessories and jewelry, showcased alongside Vuitton’s own. A new Monogram variation is here interrupted with Supreme’s iconic Box Logo. It is showcased in a range of garments, woven in classic pale washed Japanese denim and camouflage jacquard, fils coupé on pyjamas as well as in a cognac and chocolate colour way referring to the original 1896 Monogram canvas. More than a collaboration between two labels, this represents the excellence of New York street style and the Louis Vuitton’s French savoir-faire.”
Indeed it does, with several pieces inspired by the style of iconic New York City artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and as Louis Vuitton Creative Director Kim Jones said in a press release, “No New York City conversation is complete without Supreme.” That’s for sure, and it looks like Louis Vuitton is taking complete advantage of that by putting Supreme and New York City front and center.
As for when you’ll be able to get your hands on it, the collection is reported to drop July 17th at select Louis Vuitton stores as well as strategically placed pop-up shops, and even though prices will reflect more Louis Vuitton than Supreme, you can be sure the lines will still be wrapping around street corners all the same. Whether the pieces and, more importantly, Supreme for that matter, will carry the same street cachet moving forward is another story altogether
Below are some select pieces of the collaboration from the Paris show. You can view the collection in its entirety here.
