Virgil Abloh presented his Off-White fall 2021 collection during the haute couture shows in Paris last July. At the time, the show read as a statement of confidence and ambition. “Off-White should be grown up,” he told my colleague. With the designer’s sudden passing in November, this show now serves as a model for subsequent collections, the first of which is Spring 2022, appearing here. Off-White, as Abloh put it six months ago, is “adjacent to streetwear,” but it’s not encircled by it. He was a restless spirit, prone to rebelling against labels and the constraints of time. “I get frustrated if I don’t feel progress, and the message gets monotonous,” he also said. “I feel the world has changed.”

The world has changed profoundly for the design studio Off-White and the New Guards group which produces the OW collections. Going forward, their job will be to find a balance between paying homage and honoring Abloh for constant forward movement. Designed before his passing, this collection does good for the “more grown-up” Off-White, while celebrating childhood and the games of youth. The name of the collection is Sticks & Stones. If it was someone else, it might look like a post-mortem edit of past detractors, but that’s not Abloh’s style. A rep for the brand described it as a playful endorsement of doing your own thing.

The men’s tailoring is neat – adult, if you will – but the jackets are distinguished by large circular rings embroidered on the chest pockets. These were apparently inspired by Meccano, the century-old model building system devised by English inventor Frank Hornby that may have inspired Abloh to pursue architecture later. Circles have been a recurring motif at Off-White, but they’re neater than the meteors that have perforated OW sportswear and accessories in recent seasons. They also appear as zippers on men’s jackets made from what looks like bubble wrap and as cutouts on women’s knitwear.

Workwear is another theme that runs through both collections: pants have cargo pockets, and jackets, coats have zipped pockets on their sleeves, and padded boots are designed with handles on either side of the shaft, to better put them on and take them off. Utility, however, is only part of the story of the women’s collection, which has been given its sexy and fashionable touch by touches of lingerie and sportswear. On the roots side, the collection’s graffiti prints and embroideries are the result of a collaboration with Neen, a street artist from the hometurf of Abloh in Chicago. A trench coat makes a particularly good canvas for old-school graphic labels that combine its name with Off-White’s signature crossed arrows.

Otherwise, and contrary to what one might expect from a posthumous collection, the famous logo makes few appearances, and when it does it is shrunken, like on the straps of a second-skin leather minidress. Where Off-White is going next – whether it remains streetwear-adjacent or not; just how important this logo will be and who among Abloh’s wide circle of friends and mentees will get their hands on it – will play out over the next few months. But the short term is clear. The brand will pay homage to Abloh with an “immersive runway experience” on February 28, the first day of Paris Fashion Week. According to a statement, the celebration “will embrace the joy and undying optimism of [Off-White’s] founder” because he “strives to continue [his] work of opening doors and inviting conversation.