Kendrick Lamar Tributes Virgil Abloh During Louis Vuitton Paris Fashion Week Performance
PARIS, FRANCE – Kendrick Lamar casually performed several cuts off his latest album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers while enjoying a front-row seat to Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Spring-Summer 2023 show during Paris Fashion Week on Thursday (June 23), and used every moment to shout out the late Virgil Abloh when possible.
Kung Fu Kenny performed his hit “N95,” as well as “Savior,” “Rich Spirit” and “Count Me Out,” closing out the latter by repeating the phrase, “Long live Virgil.” Next to K. Dot – who was draped in a grey suit with a crown of thorns on his forehead – sat his pgLang partner Dave Free, Naomi Campbell, Russell Westbrook, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and the UK rapper Dave, among many other famous faces.
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Several rap figures have turned out for Paris Fashion Week this year. During Givenchy’s Ready-To-Wear Show on Wednesday (June 22), Westside Gunn, Lil Durk, and Kodak Black showed up and showed out, along with Tyga, A$AP TyTy, J. Balvin, Rauw Alejandro and AJ Tracey.
Kendrick Lamar’s admiration for Virgil Abloh runs particularly deep. During his historical performance at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show alongside Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Eminem in February, the former TDE member wore a custom-made black wool double-breasted suit, adorned with jeweled buttons and a silk shirt, all from Virgin Abloh’s final Louis Vuitton fall/winter collection.
The 2022 collection Kendrick partially donned during that performance was meant as a consolidation of “themes and messages of the eight-season arc Virgil Abloh created for Louis Vuitton,” and came after the groundbreaking designer passed away from cardiac angiosarcoma last November.
Watch Louis Vuitton’s Paris Fashion Week show in its entirety below.