FASHION - VIRGIL (OFF WHITE DESIGNER - BIO AR-

VIRGIL ABLOH

Creative Director OFF-WHITE, Louis Vuitton

Written by Amo Modise

It has become evident that being the son of a seamstress is the key to success. “I am all about championing this new era of designers becoming the new rock stars,” wrote Virgil Abloh on the blog The Brilliance in 2007 , subconsciously predicting his fate.

Born to Ghanaian parents, completing his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as his master’s degree in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Virgil Abloh - artist, architect, engineer, designer, musician and DJ, chief creative director, and artistic director - has evolved to be one of the world’s most influential designers.

From skipping graduation to meet Kanye West’s then-manager, John Monopoly (so the rumour says) to citing a pivotal moment in his career being his findings of Caravaggio, the Baroque painter who made him approach art for the first time and turn his academic development towards architecture, it was only in 2006 during his time at IIT, did Rem Koolhaas “piqued my interest and opened my gateway into fashion.”.

What most don’t know is that he never made the conscious decision to be a designer; he just had an overload of ideas. Undertaking an internship at Fendi with none other than his closest companion of 14 years, Kanye West, the pair ran errands just like any other intern; however, Michael Burke had seen something greater in their “disruptive approach” during their internship, and boy was he right.

“We were a generation that was interested in fashion and weren’t supposed to be there” - Abloh

OFF-WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH SS15

From humble beginnings of growing up in Chicago, idolizing Michael Jordan, to taking part in the emerging culture that mixed rock, hip-hop and fixated on skateboarding, Supreme, and DJing. No one knew that Virgil would launch his own label and debut in NYC during December 2012. Pyrex Vision’s abstraction entailed taking $40 deadstock Ralph Lauren flannels, screen-printing on a Pyrex logo and re-selling them for $550. Featuring the label Pyrex and the number 23, a homage to his childhood hero, Michael Jordan. After gaining positive traction through stockists such as Colette and endorsements from industry leaders such as Jay Z and A$AP Rocky, Virgil ultimately shut the brand down for undisclosed reasons.

After finding inspiration in Nicolas Ghesquierè’s AW12 collection for Balenciaga, he relocated to Milan, where he set up an atelier in the Italian fashion capital. The extended vision of Pyrex consisting of torn denim, tees and sweatpants which were tonally layered and screen-printed, splattered with paint or military patched, made up OffWhite’s first debut SS15 menswear collection. Within just two phenomenal seasons, Off-White SS16 was already showcasing its collection at the Paris Fashion week.

IKEA x VIRGIL ABLOH COLLABORATION

After his big debut, Virgil has continued to break boundaries and this can be seen through his collaboration with brands such as Heron Preston, Nike, Takashi Murakami, and even IKEA, each successful in their own right.. The seismic shift in his career was his appointment as the Men’s Artistic Director at the major French fashion house, Louis Vuitton, making him one of the few black designers to work there. The iconic first collection for Louis Vuitton was at the 2018 Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.

He has paved the way for youth in a way no one could ever imagine, and he continues to do just that. Abloh established the Virgil Abloh™️

“Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund (in partnership with the Fashion

Scholarship Fund) to assist the black students pursuing fashion via fundraising and mentorship. On his website is FREE GAME, a resource centre aimed at brands in their earliest phases that includes a step by step guide to building a brand based on his experience.

BURROWW-15 CLUTH BAG WOMEN’S OUT OF OFFICE “Ooo” SNEAKERS

WOMEN’S OUT OF OFFICE “Ooo” SNEAKERS Need to elevate your swag? Discover his collections and collaborations on the Off-White website or his personal website containing comprehensive archives of his work, www.canary-yellow.com

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