Following the untimely death of Virgil Abloh late last year, inside The Hero Winter Annual 2021 we spotlighted the prolific designer’s final Fall-Winter collection for Louis Vuitton with a poetic shoot photographed by Samuel Stephenson and styled by Steve Morriss.

Accompanying the shoot, Stephenson also created a short film that sets the imagery in motion – premiered below.

“My intention going into this project was not to directly reference the death of Virgil Abloh, who sadly passed away while we were in post-production,” Stephenson says, “[but] while editing the film, I found it impossible to ignore the relevance of that event, and as a result the film did become a sort of requiem. The characters in the film are mourning, they seem unsettled, off-balance, or a bit lost as they search for something that isn’t there.”   

Of the accompanying score, Samuel adds, “Adam Langston composed beautiful music for this, which again reflects a sombre tone. He added a strange regal quality to the score, which is significant and a direct reaction to the achievements of the designer.  For me it sounds like something that would be played at the passing of a monarch or someone important.”

Read our report from the Louis Vuitton FW22 show.

Explore The HERO Winter Annual 2021 here.