The ascendancy of streetwear from youth subculture to the preoccupation of the world's largest fashion houses - culminating ultimately in your sudden desire to wear oversized trainers to work - can be attributed to a lot of things. But no one man can take more of the credit than Virgil Abloh.
The Off-White savant turned Louis Vuitton necromancer has set the tone for the past couple of seasons with billowing silhouettes, punchy palettes and even a nod to the utilitarian harnesses of queer culture.
It's cool, of course. But streetwear in its purest Ablohian form can be a little daunting to wear, with some of the directional garb more befitting of a Brooklyn rave than the IRL average guy. But if Chalamet, B. Jordan, et al do feel a little too left-field to follow, you can always look to the man who made it happen himself.
Abloh's own style is a perfect example of how you can add streetwear influences to your wardrobe without making a noise: multiple layers, high end hoodies, a muted flash of gold and looser - as opposed to supersized - fits.
At the Celine show in Paris, Abloh made the case for normcore streetwear with a simple puffer jacket and chain. Likewise, at the close of his own Off-White autumn/winter '19 collection, it was all-black with a slightly flared jean.
All of which is impactful, but still permissible by quieter tastes. More importantly, it proves that streetwear can be worn - and interpreted - by any age. And you don't have to be a once-in-a-generation fashion visionary, either.
