Off-White Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear

Off-White is a company launched by an American, based in Milan, with fashion shows in Paris. Its home-is-everywhere-and-nowhere aspect was befitting of its founder, the late Virgil Abloh, who was famously one of the industry’s most peripatetic people. And it’s what enabled his hand-picked successor Ib Kamara to bring the label to New York Fashion Week for a stateside runway show this season, unbelievably the brand’s first-ever.

“It feels like coming home for Off-White and for me as well,” said Kamara backstage. Kamara, too, is in constant motion for his work; he’s also a busy stylist. The collection’s spark came from a trip he took to Ghana, the country from which Abloh’s parents emigrated. “I just loved it, so I started the collection there,” Kamara said, “going to the market, gathering fabrics, working with local artisans, really gathering a lot of feeling from it. And I named the collection Duty Free: you’ve come to New York, you’re young, you’re sexy, and you’re confident because you’re a global traveler.”

Emphasis on sexy when it came to the women’s pieces. They were based on the building blocks of athletic wear, leotards and leggings, the former souped-up with v-necklines that plunged to below the navel, and the latter split at the hem over spiked sandals. Shrunken track jackets and wispy skirts formed the other major silhouette; they were accessorized with a second track jacket tied around the waist to give the look a more low-key vibe.

Kamara has a more natural feel for the men’s side, and his main idea for the guys was adding a zippered panel to the hems of vests and jackets, as well as to the front of trousers. He came out for his bow in a pair of jeans with the treatment, the unzipped panels looking like utility pockets with room for the backstage tools of the trade. There was also a letterman jacket with logo patches and a hoodie featuring the artwork of the Ghanaian artist Nana Danso.

We were at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 2, home to basketball and handball courts, a skating rink, and an epic view of the Manhattan skyscrapers across the East River. The front row was just as glittering, with Flavor Flav, Zayn Malik, Mary J Blige, and Camila Cabello among the VIPs. The tennis player Francis Tiafoe, who sat front row and shares a Sierra Leonean background with Kamara, weighed in with a review: he wants everything. It was too early for Kamara to say if Off-White will stick with NYC, return to Paris, or go elsewhere in 2025, but the excitement about the brand and the goodwill for him does feel global.