Virgil Abloh’s Legacy
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Virgil Abloh may no longer be with us, but his vision lives on through his many astonishing collections. On November 28, 2021, Abloh had been battling a rare form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma. It is within our hopes that the brand proceeds with future collections as they are still deciding on creative direction since Abloh’s passing, however, we honor his talent and contagious love.
Abloh grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and then went on to study architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006. In 2009, he became Kanye West’s creative director. West and Abloh interned at Fendi in Rome together and became close friends as well.
In 2012, Abloh launched his first fashion line, Pyrex Vision, in collaboration with Matthew Williams and Heron Preston. Williams and Preston already had a collective known as Been Trill. The company soon became known as the New Guards Group and founded the iconic brand as we know it, Off-White in 2013. Abloh’s Off-White brought street style to a whole new level. He combined streetwear and luxury with music, art, and travel. The brand simply identifies itself as, “the gray area between black and white as the color Off-White.” The quotation marks also become Abloh’s signature with many unique styles.
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Off-White grabbed Nike’s attention in 2017. Abloh was put to the task to deconstruct ten pairs of shoes with his creative touch. With the use of zipties, bold colors, and quotations on the bottom of the shoe saying, “Air”, as in “Nike Air Force”, the shoes were a hit.
Nike was not the only brand intrigued by Abloh and his talent. Kim Jones, the artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton reached out to Abloh. Abloh reshaped the brand through a runway show inspired by the 1939 musical film, “The Wizard of Oz” with touches of rainbow and breaking personal boundaries from Illinois to Paris.
Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, gave Abloh an unprecedented role in 2018 to launch new brands and partner with existing ones. Abloh was flying high, owning Off-White and being the ring leader for rebranding LVMH.
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In addition to his clothing pieces, Abloh also experimented with his architectural side and debuted his Grey Area furniture collection in Milan, Italy. Some of his furniture included benches, tables with leather cushions, and Carrara marble tops. He later collaborated with Ikea in 2019 to release his collection of furniture internationally.
Abloh brought streetwear aesthetics to the luxury market with a hint of his architectural expertise. He reinvented the role of a creative director with a fondness for hip-hop and desire for social progress. While fashion moved to not just a cool look, people wanted to feel like they belonged to something and Abloh did just that for his consumers.
His relationship with his consumers was as if he were friends with them. He did not take a superior stance due to his visions. Instead, he engaged with his followers. He offered them information on how to launch their own brand and encouraged them. His first Instagram post has the caption, “You can do it too” after his Vuitton debut.
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The first show since Virgil Abloh’s death in November 2021 was in Paris for fashion week 2022. On Feb. 28, there was a retrospective of Abloh’s past designs in addition to the recent collection for both men and women. The looks were presented to a large audience in a room with crystal chandeliers. Every trend you can think of was displayed by the models walking down the runway. From baggy streetwear sets, to micro mini skirts with exposed thong straps, jacquard and graffiti print, fur… A versatile repertoire to say the least. And of course, the quotation sayings on some pieces like Kendall Jenner’s sequin black dress where it read, “Little Black Dress” in white down the side.
Abloh’s vision will never be forgotten as he changed the fashion industry forever. He knew how to lighten a room with not just his collections but his aura.
