Before he joined Louis Vuitton as its menswear artistic director, Virgil Abloh had lunch with Bernard Arnault. Bernard’s family owned the majority of LVMH, the parent company of Louis Vuitton and many other luxury brands, and he worked as its CEO. 

A lunch with Bernard was, effectively, a rite of passage. In her wonderful biography on Virgil, Robin Givhan, excerpted here, describes this lunch as “something between a test and a formality.” 

During lunch, Virgil mostly talked, and Bernard mostly listened. While he spoke, Virgil scribbled on a piece of paper. When Bernard asked questions, I imagine Virgil responding and documenting part of the question and answer—less like the minutes of a meeting, more as a tool that enabled him to think—covering topics such as accessories, architecture, shoes, Virgil’s readiness, and other human factors.

Robin writes, “And as Abloh answered Arnault’s questions, he continued to scribble. By the end of the luncheon, Abloh had written his entire game plan for Louis Vuitton on a single sheet of paper, not simply ideas about collaborations or products but the essence of what the collection would be: Who is the Vuitton man as done by Virgil? The piece of paper was a road map, a preview of what was to come. But that conversation over lunch never anticipated how much the world would change. It couldn’t have. Abloh slid the paper across the table and over to Bernard Arnault, and the two men shook hands.”

This moment stood out to me, as I’d been preparing for, and attending, meetings by handwriting in index cards for a couple of years now. I hadn’t realized how useful it could be to expand the physical surface area, and emphasize it as a tool for thinking. It also reminds me: planning is a verb, it can take place anywhere, and it can happen spontaneously.