On November 28, 2021, fashion pioneer, Virgil Abloh, suddenly passed away at the age of 41 after a quiet battle with cardiac angiosarcoma. It sent shockwaves throughout the fashion industry as a beloved designer and friend was unexpectedly taken away, leaving a gaping hole in the fashion community. He touched the world in many ways, inspired millions, and left a legacy that will live forever.
Virgil Abloh was born in Rockford, Illinois on September 30, 1980. He attended the Boylan Catholic High School and graduated in 1998 then attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering in 2002. He worked as a DJ, playing at house parties and small events, and continued to do so even later in his career as he created a bridge between the fashion and music world. In 2006, he completed his master’s degree in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He started working as a furniture designer, before developing an interest in fashion.
In 2009, Abloh met Kanye West while working at a screen-printing store. Soon after meeting Kanye for the first time, the two started an internship together at Fendi. Kanye and Abloh did not know this at the time, but eventually they would become long-time collaborators. Later, they teamed up together and launched a boutique called RSVP in Chicago. In 2010, Ahbloh was named Ye’s creative director for the DONDA creative house. Similarly, Kanye enlisted Abloh to create the album cover for the Kanye West and Jay-Z collab album, Watch The Throne. Abloh continued to work on many album covers for Kanye including My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Cruel Summer, and Yeezus.
While working at DONDA, Abloh met Matthew Williams and Heron Preston. Eventually they created Been Trill, a DJ and creative collective, which turned into Pyrex Vision, an art project with clothes. Their collaborations were eventually rebranded as Off-White, the iconic brand everyone knows today. Off-White became famous for its use of quotation marks and Abloh’s use of the “three-percent rule,” the idea that if one slightly changes an existing design, it counts as new. Luxury brands started to notice him and, by 2018, he was named the artistic director of menswear for Louis Vuitton making him the first black director at the French house. In 2018, at the Palais-Royal garden, Abloh showed off his first collection for Louis Vuitton. He had artists like Playboi Carti, Steve Lacy, A$AP Nast, Dev Hynes, and Kid Cudi walk the show. He continued to collaborate with other brands, including a project with IKEAto design furniture, and a partnership with SSENSE to release a workout collection.
Virgil Abloh’s business continuously grew until he ultimately received the household name. Abloh succeeded in many other ways including being appointed to the board of directors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a council that aimed to promote the American fashion industry, and establishing the Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship fund, a scholarship to assist black students. In July of 2021, Abloh was given more creative control of LVMH after selling a 60% stake of Off-White to the brand.
Virgil Abloh stated that everything he did was for the 17-year-old version of himself. He was an artist through and through and applied his sense of creativity to whatever he was doing, whether it was being a
DJ or putting on a fashion show. His tribute show came a few days after he had passed, titled “Virgil Was Here.” The event told the story of who he was and what he did. It took place outside the Brutalist Miami Marine Stadium and featured a large statue of the late director. A rainbow was projected across the sky as one of Abloh’s most famous quotes played through the speakers: “Life is so short that you can’t waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do.”
Virgil Abloh had a vision and did everything he could to bring it to life.
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