Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh and A Bathing Ape’s Nigo collaborate on a collection

That’s our bag

What do you get when you put designers Virgil Abloh (Louis Vuitton menswear) and Nigo (founder of A Bathing Ape and several other streetwear brands) in the same room? The new LV2 collection, which focuses on tailoring- with-a-twist looks inspired by Abloh’s easy tailoring for Louis Vuitton and Nigo’s long-held interest in the style of English subcultures. But what we really want to Add to Cart now – the collection will only arrive around July – are the bags. Seen on styles like the Keepall duffle bag and a tote, the Louis Vuitton monogram appears to be melting into a graphic version of its Damier check – a fun riff on Nigo’s Ice Cream fashion label.

Strong vision

Set your eyes on the latest project from Leica and Mykita, both paragons of quality, minimalist German engineering and design. The understated (yet un-boring) frames of Berlin-based eyewear brand Mykita are combined with lenses made by Leica. These have been individually ground and polished, and feature a special coating developed by Leica and based on its experience in sport optics (such as binoculars) and professional photography. Available from June.

Power of two

It should be sufficiently clear by now that “collaboration” is currently fashion’s biggest buzzword. Here’s one we are really excited about. This month, Prada chief Miuccia Prada welcomes a new co-creative director: Belgian designer Raf Simons. Their first joint collection, Prada’s Spring/Summer 2021 womenswear, is scheduled to hit the Milan runway this September. While many partnerships thrive on unexpected contrasts, this pairing was surprising because the two are alike in their intellectual approach to fashion, and their knack for combining clean tailoring with dramatic accents. Will the sum of this alliance be greater than all its parts? We’ll find out.