PARIS — Move over, Valentino Pink PP. The brand new shade on the town is Off-White Blue.

For his first collection as art and image director of the brand, Ib Kamara selected a signature color that he hopes will develop into synonymous with the label. In a preview, he said he desired to create a “blue universe” for the spring 2023 show, which was titled “Celebration” in homage to founder Virgil Abloh, whose death last 12 months on the age of 41 shocked the industry.

“We’re embracing blue as a color within the brand and it’s something we’re enthusiastic about as we move forward,” he told WWD. “Blue is otherwordly. It’s alien, however it’s human. It’s explorative. It’s a vulnerable color.”

It’s the colourful shade of blue that Abloh selected for the duvet of “Figures of Speech,” the book he published in 2019 to coincide along with his first solo exhibition, held on the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. It was also the colour he chosen to open his fall 2021 Off-White show, with an electrical blue velour dress and boots worn by Bella Hadid.

Off-White, which shot its fall campaign in Morocco’s “blue city” of Chefchaouen, is within the strategy of registering the hue with Pantone. It’s a part of the brand new chapter spearheaded by Kamara, who vowed to maintain alive Abloh’s community spirit and inclusive vision.

“He really created conversation and disruption in probably the most beautiful way, so there’s evidence of that on this collection, I feel,” he said. “I feel incredibly inspired and empowered by the tools that Off-White provides to proceed the dream and proceed to create a conversation.”

For his debut show, Kamara devised an immersive performance with afro-punk band Tshegue, who provided the soundtrack; Cape Verdean dancer and choreographer Nicolas Huchard, who worked on Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Fashion Freak Show” cabaret and Madonna’s “Madame X” tour, and London-based filmmaker Stephen Isaac Wilson. 

“It’s a community effort to bring all of it to life. It’s an actual collective of individuals working to meet this vision,” Kamara said of the event, which took place on the eve of what would have been Abloh’s forty second birthday.

“Off-White began as a community, and a kind of community brand. It’s a brand that empowers people, and I feel the clothing should have the option to try this. It’s a luxury house, and we wish to have the option to create our own language and reinvent our own language, our own codes, moving forward,” Kamara added.

Guests including Naomi Campbell, Erykah Badu and Winnie Harlow were bathed in blue light on the show, held at a theater within the north of Paris. Projected on a white cube in the course of a blue carpet was a video showing men painted in blue lounging in front of doors, a prelude to a performance where the dancers had their faces painted blue to match their catsuits.

After last season’s runway extravaganza for Off-White, featuring a lineup of the world’s top models and celebrity guests including Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, this felt like a reset. The casting consisted almost exclusively of recent faces to maintain the eye on the garments. 

Kamara was inspired by the human body for the student collection, which featured a plethora of anatomical details, starting from laser-printed skeleton patterns on denim jackets and pants, to body-con knits with cording appliqué, and suits with female torso motifs stitched in white thread.

Flowers were one other key theme, with silk organza looks sprouting three-dimensional petals. “The body could be very fragile. I see it as a flower,” Kamara explained.

A few of the tailored looks were deconstructed to reveal lining fabric, pins and stitching. “It’s prefer it’s a piece in progress, so we’re working toward something, and I feel humans, we’re all a piece in progress. That’s the sensation,” he said.

One in every of Abloh’s close collaborators, Kamara was born in Sierra Leone, taking refuge with relatives in Gambia throughout the country’s 11-year civil war, before settling in London when he was 16. He juggles his position at Off-White with the role of editor in chief of Dazed, in addition to styling campaigns and shows for clients including Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

Kamara shares Abloh’s multihyphenate approach and restless energy, traveling often from his home base to the Milanese headquarters of Off-White, which is majority owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and licensed to Latest Guards Group, the Italian holding company that also operates brands similar to Palm Angels and Ambush.

“I don’t understand how I do it, but we keep going. I’m dedicated to all of the things that I’m involved in, so I find time for them,” Kamara demurred.

“I’m between London and Milan, but I even have a excellent routine that works for me when it comes to the quantity of hours I work a day, the time I wake and go to bed. I’ve needed to be very disciplined. There’s not enough time in 24 hours, but I make use of each moment of it,” he added.

Kamara is thought for work that explores gender codes, queerness and Black identity, all themes that Abloh, often known as “V” to his inner circle, brought from the sidelines to the middle of the posh conversation. Born in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian immigrant parents, Abloh championed Black talent and created a scholarship fund for Black fashion students.   

“I’m bringing my African viewpoint,” said Kamara. “I’m bringing a community viewpoint and my musical viewpoint, which I feel was ingrained in Off-White before. There are a lot of more elements, but I feel a few of those elements were already being investigated by V, so it’s a continuation of a few of those conversations.”

The soundtrack of the show incorporated traditional African instruments and drums.

“A phenomenal thing that V did was [that he said] luxury doesn’t have a color, it’s for everybody, and he really investigated that to the very end. That is the legacy you see on runways and on catwalks and front rows. It’s opened as much as communities globally, and everybody seems like they’ll dream enough to be a part of that spirit,” Kamara explained.

With Imaginary TV, the mixed platform channel that Off-White launched throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand plans to proceed showcasing talents and fostering inclusive environments. “It’s about representing a young generation, it’s not about selling clothes. Imaginary TV is my fashion communication system,” Abloh told WWD on the time.

Within the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, the brand reissued a T-shirt from a 2017 partnership with artist Jenny Holzer that was gifted to guests on the show. It should even be available on the market in a limited edition of 500, with 100% of proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.

“I feel a brand is beyond the product,” Kamara said. “It might probably be human, it may possibly touch you. It might probably make you’re feeling something.”

He noted that the doors featured within the show symbolized the best way Abloh created opportunities for teens worldwide. “V pioneered a young generation to essentially imagine that they could be something, they’ll dream they usually could be good at many other things than simply something society tells them they must do,” Kamara said.

“The great thing about working at Off-White is the potential of how far we are able to dream here. It’s big and we’re going to proceed to dream greater and greater,” he pledged.