A statue from Virgil Abloh’s first Louis Vuitton collection has been sold for a pretty hefty price tag.
The seller Julian, who goes by @suppliedby.jf on Instagram, sold the item for $65,000 via Grailed. The statue, which sees the mannequin flashing a peace sign, is dripped out in a Louis Vuitton jacket while clutching an LV bag.
He shared a video of himself packing the mannequin to ship it off to its new owner. There’s no information available about the buyer, who Julian says is a celebrity.
"Come ship a $65,000 celebrity client order for a Louis Vuitton Virgil Abloh statue," Julian says in the clip. "These statues were never available for sale to the public and were a part of the release of Virgil's first collection with Louis Vuitton back in 2019, where they sat in flagship stores.
"This specific statue was sent back to the Louis Vuitton holding warehouse due to minor damage on the paint. This statue sat in the holding warehouse until renovations where contractors were told to clear out the warehouse and keep or discard whatever they wanted from the warehouse. You rarely see these pop up on the market and when you do, they always sell to private collectors. Would you pay $65,000 for this piece of fashion history?"
According to the Grailed listing, the mannequin is approximately six feet tall and comes apart in two pieces at the waist. The seller’s video showed him packaging the two pieces separately to ship.
Grailed is a platform where people can sell and purchase authentic luxury, streetwear, vintage, archive, sneakers and more.
Julian first listed the statue for sale in May 2023.
"Extremely rare item that you will rarely, if ever see pop up for sale again," he wrote at the time. "It had been saved by an employee and or someone associated with the destruction/removal of them. Up until recently it had sat in the person’s home as a display piece. Extremely Rare and cool art piece for any collector or shop owner."
Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear ready-to-wear line in 2018, making him the first Black person to lead the menswear line and one of the few Black designers to sit at the helm of a major French fashion house.
He remained in the position until 2021, when he died from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare type of cancer.
