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Louis Vuitton cityscape jackets turn you into walking 3D architecture

You probably can't visit Paris right now, but that doesn't mean you can't wear its landmarks.

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Leslie_Katz.jpg
Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
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  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
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Leslie Katz
wearablecityscape
Louis Vuitton

If you can wear your heart on your sleeve, then why not the city of Paris? 

Puffer jackets featuring detailed 3D cityscapes made an appearance Thursday at a livestreamed Paris fashion show presenting designer Louis Vuitton's fall-winter 2021 menswear collection. The jackets are part fashion, part architecture and part really awkward to wear on crowded subways. 

Virgil Abloh, artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, designed two of these "wearable miniature cityscapes."

One, the "Paris Skyline Puffer," dresses the wearer in French landmarks including the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral and Eiffel Tower (which makes for quite a tall shoulder pad). The "New York City Skyline Puffer" features skyscrapers from New York and other cities, including the John Hancock Center in Abloh's hometown of Chicago. 

skyscrapers
Louis Vuitton

"With his new Louis Vuitton collection, Virgil Abloh employs fashion as a tool to change predetermined perceptions of dress codes," the fashion house says. 

The elaborately choreographed and staged multidisciplinary runway show blends fashion, poetry, movement and music. It took place at the Tennis Club de Paris against a modernist set inspired by the Barcelona Pavilion, which served as the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona. 

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, live onlookers couldn't attend. You can, however, watch a film of the show, titled Peculiar Contrast, Perfect Light, and dream of a day when you can go places besides your living room wearing fancy clothes. Here it is: