KidSuper founder Colm Dillane, Brooklyn’s homegrown superhero, returned to Paris Fashion Week, as the luxury fashion equivalent of an ‘artist as residence’ in the creation of the Louis Vuitton Autumn/Winter 2023 menswear collection.

Mr. Dillane, 31, is considered to be a great storyteller. In 2021, the prestigious LVMH Prize awarded him the runner-up Karl Lagerfeld prize with two other designers.

Dillane thrives on collaboration, as did Abloh, and his commercial partners have run the gamut from Puma to SpaghettiOs. We would say that Dillane has range in his creative projects.

The house announced two weeks ago that the next Louis Vuitton men’s collection, presented on January19th, was created by the men’s studio “with the participation of Dillane.” There was no suggestion of a formal announcement about the future in replacing the beloved Virgil Abloh.

Louis Vuitton Fall 2023 Menswear Show

Michael Burke, Vuitton’s chairman and chief executive officer, told Women’s Wear Daily that the upcoming show “should be seen as an experiment and not an audition’. “I think it’s a little early,” to make personnel predictions, Burke told WWD hours before the formal announcement of major executive changes at both Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.

The evolution of the design studio organization at Louis Vuitton Mens is now in the hands of former race car driver — and accomplished LVMH executive — Pietro Beccari.

Related: LVMH Moves: Pietro Beccari Will Lead Louis Vuitton | Delphine Arnault At Helm of Dior AOC Daily Jan. 11, 2023

Now that the FW 2023 Louis Vuitton show is over, speculation is running rampant about prospects for a permanent appointment for Colm Dillane.

Louis Vuitton Fall 2023 Menswear Show, Paris January 2019, with Colm Dillane

As astute minds who know the LVMH group well have stated, this may continue as a slow process. Given the kind of financial success Louis Vuitton is enjoying, there is nothing to fix at the moment.

Vogue Business writes: “LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton is the world’s largest luxury house: its sales surged 20 per cent to €20.6 billion in 2022 and are expected to reach €21.9 billion in 2023, according to HSBC estimates. Menswear may not represent the bulk of the business, but the role of men’s artistic director is key given the size of the house, the importance of leather goods, which represent over 70 per cent of the house’s sales according to analysts, and the halo effect of the men’s designer’s creative vision on the overall brand’s desirability.”

Having reflected on the success of last week’s Colm Dillane presentation, AOC does see the fit with Dillane and Abloh in a way that we didn’t the day of the presentation.

There was a lot to digest in the presentation visually, even in the theme of young men being so attached to their inner child — a topic of major research in today’s America where young men are often floundering with no sense of their place in the social structure and increasingly no educational plan to gain the skills required to function successfully in the 21st century work force.

Dillane has clearly proven that America’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. But so are sales of lottery tickets.

Clearly the Brooklyn maverick has enormous hustle and understanding of modern marketing. All reports are that he is a genuinely great guy who truly enjoys collaboration.

I personally went back over Virgil’s older shows and the influence of the menswear design studio is strong in the Fall 2023 collection. This is not about radical change.

AOC remains a believer that Beccari and Arnault will take the menswear design group for an innovative spin — sort of a design laboratory that focuses on the future studio workplace.

But to hear in March that Colm Dillane gets his LV men’s position would not surprise us. AOC believes strongly that elegance is in the wind. I did keep asking myself “Would Jay-Z wear these clothes? Would the NBA players wear these clothes because the LV Men’s NBA clothes are fabulous.

AOC always walks to our own drum, and our edit of the collection leans on luxurious-edge and artistry. Virgil did some outrageous stuff, but it was almost always Harlem Renaissance luxurious.

Whatever happens, Colm Dillane’s talent, drive, positive and people-friendly, cooperation-rich personality and Brooklyn moxie have surely landed him in the lap of LVMH in some arrangement. Dillane’s talent and temperament are undeniable, and Bernard Arnault believes in banking talent.

PS: We LOVE both the full-color artistry above — like why hold back!!! - and the far more subtle faces looking out at us in the not-random at all patchworks. And the applique embroidery shirts at the end beg for more colorways. They are great. Those pants aren’t too shabby either.

Like I said — E-L-E-G-A-N-T! Miss you, Virgil. Sending our love. ~ Anne