Louis Vuitton launches African-inspired menswear line
The new men’s style director at France-based luxury goods company Louis Vuitton, Kim Jones, has unveiled his debut collection, featuring slick, jet-set staples with African touches. High-waisted trousers and razor-cut jackets in navy pinstripes were paired with button-down shirts in Africa-inspired fabric in vibrant colours.
The spring-summer 2012 menswear collection “is about someone who, from America and England, picks up and leaves and goes slightly native,” Mr Jones, formerly of British heritage house Dunhill, told The Associated Press. “When you’re really rich you can do that kind of thing.”
According to Mr Jones, the hardest part of his transition to Louis Vuitton – where he replaced the outgoing head of the menswear studio, Paul Helbers, in March – is the seemingly limitless possibilities that come with the firm’s financial capabilities.
“There’s so much freedom here,” said Mr Jones. “Everything is possible at Vuitton, so it’s more about deciding what not to do.”
Mr Jones said he’d looked to his own childhood in Botswana and Ethiopia for the collection.
