Virgil Abloh knows how to shake up the runway status quo. At his debut menswear show for Louis Vuitton last year, Abloh put his designs on the backs of men like musician Steve Lacy, multihyphenate artist Blondey McCoy, and pro skater Lucien Clarke, hammering home his global fashion message through a cast that aptly represented his ethos. At his Spring 2020 show today, Abloh and casting directors, Piergiorgio Del Moro and Samuel Ellis Scheinman of DM Casting built on that framework with a lineup of models and celebrities from across the globe. There was English singer Dev Hynes and Italian model of the moment Malick Bodian, but it was South Korean rapper and producer Song Mino (better known as simply Mino) who sent social media into a frenzy.
As a member of the Korean boy band Winner, Mino is well known for his fashion prowess—head to his Instagram feed if you want a crash course in exuberant menswear—but his Paris runway debut came as a welcome surprise. Clad in the collection’s pastels, he fit right in with the models, adding a touch of cool as he walked through the Place Dauphine. Whether Mino will become a regular on Abloh’s runway remains to be seen, but he’s already upped the ante for the season’s castings.
