Warehouse Review 002, A Review of Reviews

With the Warehouse Review series, we aim to give a proper analysis and contextualisation of certain contemporary fashion phenomena, but not only through an essayistic approach. Instead, we deploy various methods of research and analysis to zoom in on specific aspects that make – in our estimation – a fashion phenomenon into what it is. Our first edition of Warehouse Review, entitled ‘People Wearing Off-White’, was a thorough study of the fashion label Off-White and its immense popularity. With this second edition of Warehouse Review, we are taking a more meta approach: we are reviewing the fashion review, and in specific, those of the Louis Vuitton fall 2020 womenswear collection.
In his fall 2020 collection, Nicolas Ghesquière, the creative director of Louis Vuitton womenswear, explored notions around time. Talking to Nicole Phelps, the Director of Vogue Runway, he stated: “I wanted to imagine what could happen if the past could look at us.” With that sentiment in mind, the contributors of this Warehouse Review interrogated these, now historical written records, that collectively make up a response to Louis Vuitton fall 2020 presentation. Through this meta-critique, we hope to explore what we might learn about these past examples of catwalk writing as a way to move the discipline forward. As McNeil and Miller declared “…the reviewer is the critic!” it is now time to critique the critic and to review the review.