It’s hard to believe that a Ghanaian-American kid from Rockford, Illinois, would turn the worlds of streetwear and fashion on their heads with no formal education in fashion. Still, Virgil Abloh’s path to success was anything but expected. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. When Abloh first took a serious interest in fashion, he was enrolled in a Master’s degree program studying to become an architect. It may seem like an unconventional background for a man who would later redefine what a fashion Creative Director could be, but his unwillingness to conform is what set him apart.
Abloh passed away on November 28, 2021, after privately battling cardiac angiosarcoma. In his short 41 years, he left an undeniable mark on streetwear and broke boundaries in luxury fashion. As we close out Black History Month, we reflect on Abloh’s career and the legacy he left behind.
Abloh and West
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In 2009, photographer Tommy Ton snapped a photo during Paris Fashion Week that would become iconic. The image featured an 808s & Heartbreak era Kanye West among a group of friends featuring Fonzworth Bentley, Don C, Taz Arnold, Chris Julian, and Abloh standing outside the Comme des Garçons show. “What makes that photo resurfacing interesting is I couldn’t even get into a Louis Vuitton show at that point […] So, that photo represents to me what may seemingly be impossible is possible. I didn’t think I would be the head of Louis Vuitton then, but I knew it was possible,” Abloh recalled to Complex in 2019.
Only West had achieved any real fame at the time, but he was in the middle of an internship alongside Abloh at Fendi’s headquarters in Rome. The pair had known each other for years, but their working relationship was cemented during their time in Italy. Shortly after, West named Abloh the Creative Director of his creative content company, DONDA. During his time at DONDA, Abloh oversaw the art direction for Jay-Z and West’s album, Watch the Throne. The work ultimately earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.
Reconstructing Streetwear
The first company Abloh founded was the New York-based Pyrex Vision in 2012. He bought deadstock Ralph Lauren flannel button-ups and screen printed them with “Pyrex” and the number 23, an ode to Michael Jordan. The brand gained recognition when A$AP Rocky wore a flannel in a music video. Next, Abloh expanded the brand by adding art-adorned hoodies and basketball shorts. More celebrities took note, and soon, Abloh gained recognition for being more than a Kanye West collaborator.
A year after launching Pyrex, Abloh shut it down. He had a vision for a new label that elevated streetwear to luxury status by incorporating his love of art and music. So he headed to Milan to launch Off-White in 2013. Off-White pieces were identifiable by Abloh’s use of quotation marks, zip-ties, and hazard tape. A year later, the first womenswear line debuted at Paris Fashion Week. Off-White was immediately successful, and Abloh was named a finalist for the LVMH Prize. He ultimately lost to Marques ‘ Almeida and Jacquemus, but his ascension was already well on its way.
In 2017, Nike tapped Abloh to redesign 10 of the brand’s most iconic silhouettes. The collaboration — dubbed “The Ten” — featured a deconstructed and reattached Nike swoosh and nods to Off-White with zip-ties and quotation marks. The sneakers proved to be a reboot of sneakerhead culture on the mainstream level. The drop sold out instantly and quickly became known for its resale value, with pairs reselling for well over $1000 before Abloh’s passing. Nike and Abloh would team up for several collaborations in the future, including a collection designed for tennis legend Serena Williams.
The Polymath
Abloh’s interest in creating went beyond fashion. His history with West and other musicians was born out of a genuine affinity for music. He DJ’d parties in high school and college, which became a side passion for him. In 2018, he teamed up with German producer Boys Noize to release his first single, “Orvnge.” The following year, Abloh performed at Tomorrowland and Coachella.
Abloh’s eye for aesthetics naturally led him into the art world. He frequently collaborated with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Their artwork has been showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Gagosian Gallery’s spaces in Beverly Hills, London, and Paris. Abloh’s first solo exhibit debuted in 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech was a retrospective of his career and highlighted his most iconic work. Abloh expressed something he felt his younger self missed, opening up the doors of civic space to underrepresented communities to inspire the next generation. In an interview with ArtsATL, he explained, “it’s the story arc of my career. As a child, the world did not present itself to me that I could be a designer or make things people would consume. Designers/artists I knew weren’t black and from Third World countries like Ghana.”
Conquering Luxury
On the heels of the success of his collaboration with Nike, Louis Vuitton tapped Abloh to be the artistic director for the label’s menswear ready wear line. It was a historic appointment as it made him the first person of African descent to lead the brand’s menswear line and one of the few black Creative Directors leading a major French fashion house. He returned to Paris to debut his first collection during Men’s Fashion Week. The runway show featured Kid Cudi, Playboi Carti, and Steve Lacy. Abloh’s time at Louis Vuitton reinvigorated the label. Sales increased by 16% during the first financial period of 2019. In July 2021, LVMH acquired a majority stake in Off-White for an unreported amount. Abloh had not only brought streetwear to luxury, but he also made it lucrative.
Abloh had accomplished feats that most thought impossible for a black man in the fashion world at the time of his passing. However, his immediate impact can already be felt. He inspired a new generation of young designers to live their dreams and opened doors for more African designers to take the leap into luxury. Still, it may be some time before we can fully appreciate what an ambitious kid born to two Ghanian immigrants in Rockford, Illinois, was able to achieve.
