Virgil Abloh

American fashion designer and businessman Virgil Abloh lived from September 30, 1980, until November 28, 2021. Beginning in 2018, he served as the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear line. In the early part of 2021, he was given more responsibility for the LVMH brand as a whole. In addition, Abloh served as the CEO of Off-White, a fashion business he established in 2013 and whose headquarters are in Milan.

A Career as a Designer

Abloh, a professional architect who previously worked in Chicago street fashion, made his debut in the realm of high fashion in 2009 when he interned at Fendi with musician Kanye West from the United States. In 2010, Abloh took on the position of Creative Director at Donda, West's creative firm. Off-White was launched by Abloh in 2013. When he joined LVMH in 2018, Abloh became the first African-American to hold the position of artistic director at a French luxury fashion house. That same year, Time magazine named Abloh one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The New York Times called Abloh's design approach, which combined luxury and streetwear fashion, transformational. The Wall Street Journal claims that he attained a degree of international celebrity uncommon for a designer and became a role model.

Early life

Virgil Abloh was an immigrant from Ghana. His father had a painting business, while his mother was a seamstress. He learnt to sew from his mum. Abloh was raised in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in 1998. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002. In 2006, he graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) with a Master of Architecture. Abloh was a student at IIT during the time that Rem Koolhaas' building was being constructed on campus (he had also worked on runway collections for Prada). His interest in fashion was sparked in part by Koolhaas' construction.

The Crown Hall, a contemporary masterpiece created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe that served as additional inspiration for Abloh, served as additional inspiration for Abloh. Abloh's master's thesis design was for a skyscraper in Chicago that curled toward Lake Michigan as though leaning toward the rising sun. He created T-shirts while he was an architecture student and contributed articles about fashion and design to The Brilliance, a well-known blog. In a Chicago print studio, Abloh first encountered Kanye West while attempting to work on one of his designs.

Death

Abloh, Shannon, and their two children all lived in Chicago. Abloh received a cancer diagnosis in 2019 for cardiac angiosarcoma, but he kept the information to himself. He passed away in Chicago on November 28, 2021, at the age of 41. With the family's consent, LVMH paid homage to Abloh during their upcoming fashion show in Miami on November 30 under the theme "Virgil was here." At the memorial service were Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, ASAP Rocky, Bella Hadid, Pharrell Williams, Tahar Rahim, Venus Williams, Joe Jonas, Ricky Martin, Jeremy Pope, 21 Savage, Joan Smalls, and Bernard Arnault. Louis Vuitton used the tribute "Virgil was here" on their window displays across the world. On December 6, 2021, in Chicago, Abloh had a private funeral attended by his family, close friends, and Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kid Cudi, Tyler, the Creator, ASAP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa, Lauryn Hill, Don C, and Jerry Lorenzo.

Achievements and Awards

In 2011, Abloh won his first significant honor when the cover art he created for American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West's joint album Watch the Throne garnered a Grammy Award nomination for Best Recording Package. Abloh was a nominee for the LVMH Prize in 2015 (working for Off-White). Only Abloh, an American designer, received a nomination for the prize in that particular year. The "War is Not Over!" t-shirts and caps from Abloh's fall 2015 women's collection that were inspired by Charlie Hebdo received the most attention. At the 2017 British Fashion Awards, he won the Urban Luxe honor.

At the 2017 GQ Men of the Year Awards, he also took home the title of International Designer of the Year. Abloh was nominated for Accessory Designer of the Year and won the 2017 Shoe of the Year award for his Off-White Air Jordan "the Ten" partnership. One of two designers recognized that year, Abloh was selected among Time magazine's 100 most important people in the world. Abloh's excellent accomplishments contributed to his listing, according to Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, who wrote about it in the Time issue. Abloh was recognized by the Ebony Power 100 as a notable innovator in December 2018. Also up for the 2019 Menswear Designer of the Year award was Virgil Abloh.

Conclusion

Virgil Abloh, who passed away at the age of 41, will be remembered as one of his generation's most well-known and significant fashion designers. The rise of Virgil Abloh from a show-crashing fashion tourist in 2009 to the pinnacle of the global luxury sector at the time of his death as the founder of Off-White and Creative Director of Menswear for Louis Vuitton is probably the most important fashion tale of the decade. Abloh was the pioneering boundary breaker in a famously circumscribed industry since he was both an African American and a creator whose work sprang from the ragtag genre of streetwear, a category whose categorization Is frequently disputed.

Mukesh Kumar

Updated on: 31-Oct-2022

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