Virgil Abloh, who died of cancer at the age of 41, was an American fashion designer whose styles drew an audience for everything from clothing and shoes to music and furniture.
Three years ago, Louis Vuitton made its menswear line Artistic Director of Street Fashion. When his first show that year for the French fashion house, in the gardens of the Palais Royal, Paris, premiered its Spring/Summer 2019 collection on a rainbow runway, Abloh invited hundreds of students to attend, realizing the power they had. Online age to create or break a brand.
Alongside them, stars like Rihanna, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian watched a sexy show—dye looks, multi-pocket neon jackets, simple white outfits, and an aluminum coat. wizard of ozCharacter blouses.
That same year, Abloh designed Hailey Baldwin’s bohemian, off-the-shoulder dress for her secret wedding to Justin Bieber, featuring in large letters on her long train the phrase “Till death is part of the United States.”
Abloh first printed his t-shirt designs in a shop in Chicago and sent them to producer rapper West, who commissioned him, as art director, to make covers for his albums.
My beautiful dark twisted fantasy (2010) George Kondo’s painting of a man lying on a bed by an armless, nude female resembling a phoenix was originally featured as part of the design.
West claimed that this was a deliberate ploy to ban the hip-hop group to ensure maximum publicity. When Walmart refused to stock it, the image on the front was replaced with a ballerina holding a glass of wine, another of five options offered by the artist.
Abloh at Paris Fashion Week in June 2020
(Environmental Protection Agency)
to Watching the throne (2011), which saw West collaborate with Jay-Z, Abloh chose Givenchy’s creative director Riccardo Tisci to design the gold foil cover art. This led to Abloh being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
He has also collaborated with West on stage designs and touring merchandise, and has been behind album covers for other artists such as Kid Cudi, ASAP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert, Octavian, Westside Gunn, and Pop Smoke.
In 2012, Abloh founded his own company, Pyrex Vision, which aims to represent youth culture, buying unsold Ralph Lauren clothing for $40 (£30), screen-printing designs on it and selling items for an additional $550.
He described the work as an artistic experiment and closed it a year later, when he launched his own fashion house Off-White, based in Milan. Her outfits, for both men and women, featured the unmistakable black and white stripes seen on hoodies and sneakers worn by pop stars Rita Ora and Rihanna.
Stylist with Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid and Karlie Kloss at the closing of the Off-White show in Paris in 2019
(GT)
Abloh also cast his eye on the excess of furniture. One set, the gray area, included tables with leather cushions, Carrara marble countertops, and iron-mesh chairs.
Off White’s arrival was amazing. Levi, Jimmy Choo, and Dr Martens had several brands to collaborate with the designer, and all were keen to bring Abloh’s talent into their products.
In 2016, he reimagined 10 of Nike’s most popular sneakers, such as the Air Max 90 and Air Presto. Two years later, a black ballerina-style dress, puffed jacket and “Queen of Queens” sneakers made the ensemble he designed for tennis star Serena Williams at the US Open.
After moving to Louis Vuitton, Abloh’s collaboration with Ikea led to British customers queuing up overnight at the Wembley branch in 2019. This included a chair with a door rail attached to one leg, as well as rugs bearing the words “KEEP OFF” and on the red of it, “Blue “.
Kanye West and Abloh at the Louis Vuitton menswear fall-winter 2019 show
(GT)
Virgil Abloh was born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1980 to Ghanaian immigrant parents, Eunice, a seamstress, and Ni Abloh, a paint company manager. From his mother, he learned how to sew and attended Boylan Catholic High School.
Abloh holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Wisconsin. While studying for his master’s degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, he began designing T-shirts.
Upon getting a job at Italian fashion house Fendi, he was an intern in her Rome office alongside Kanye West, who later made him the creative director of Donda’s creative content company.
Across the West, Abloh met Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and performed together at exhibitions in the United States and Japan, focusing on the synthesis of cultures and blurring the distinction between high and low eyebrows.
Their America Too show at the Gagosian Gallery in London in 2018 included a metal flower sculpture with Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki figure on top and Abloh’s crossed arrows at the foundation.
That same year, when Abloh switched to Louis Vuitton, the flagship company of LVMH, he sold Off-White to Farfetch for £556 million. He was assigned greater creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021.
Abloh is survived by his wife, Shannon (née Sundberg), the childhood sweetheart whom he married in 2009, their daughter Louie, and her son Gray.
Virgil Abloh, fashion designer, born September 30, 1980, died November 28, 2021