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Ahead of the most anticipated runway show this season, Louis Vuitton has revealed a bit about what we can expect from its new menswear director Virgil Abloh’s debut. While Abloh’s die-hard fans will not be surprised to learn that the Off-White director has tapped Christine Centenera (and it seems, one of Yeezy’s go-to photographers, Jackie Nickerson) to consult on and style Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2019 menswear collection, the Vogue Australia fashion director and stylist’s name may be unfamiliar to some, although that is increasingly unlikely.
Following a ten-year tenure as the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar Australia, Centenera jumped ship to Vogue Australia in 2012 (working remotely from New York since 2016), where she serves as fashion director. More notably, for most, however, is her non-editorial work, which has seen Centenera infiltrate some of fashion’s buzziest circles. As WWD noted this week, she has consulted – and continues to actively consult – “to [Kanye] West for all his runway collections since his debut spring 2012 womenswear show in 2011.” (You may have noticed her in a few of the images from the brand’s latest #SuperMoon ad campaign.)
One of the industry’s most heavily-snapped street style figures (often in Off-White and her own brand, Wardrobe.NYC, which she launched alongside designer and significant other, Josh Goot), Centenera met Abloh when she started consulting for Yeezy and while Abloh was the creative director of West’s creative agency, Donda.
Off the runway and outside of the pages of Vogue Australia, Centenera’s creative hand – with its penchant for structured outerwear, oft-monochrome palate, sharp lines, and statement footwear – has wielded its influence by way of a freelance styling career, with clients, such as Kim Kardashian, Cate Blanchett, and Naomi Campbell, among others.
In an industry that is dominated by power stylists – like Elizabeth Saltzman (who dresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Saoirse Ronan and Uma Thurman), Kate Young (stylist to Margot Robbie, Michelle Williams, Sienna Miller, Selena Gomez, Natalie Portman and Dakota Johnson), and Karla Welch (known for her work with Justin Bieber, Lorde and Ruth Negga, among others), just to name a few – a big part of Centenera’s strength is her ability to shape the output of some of the fashion industry’s (and music world’s) most influential figures.
Abloh and Centenera will make their Louis Vuitton debuts on June 21st during the Spring/Summer 2019 menswear shows in Paris.
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