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Virgil Abloh (; September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021) was an American and entrepreneur. A trained architect, Abloh founded his own line of luxury streetwear clothing under the moniker Pyrex Vision in 2012, which he transformed into the Milan based fashion label Off-White in 2013. Abloh was appointed artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection beginning in 2018 and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021. Abloh worked in Chicago street fashion before he entered the world of international fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009, alongside American rapper Kanye West. Abloh assumed the role of creative director at Donda, West's creative agency in 2010.
Abloh joined LVMH in 2018, where he became the first African-American artistic director of a French luxury fashion house. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world that year. Abloh's design aesthetic, which bridged streetwear and luxury clothing, was described as transformative by The New York Times. According to The Wall Street Journal, he reached a level of global fame unusual for a designer, and as an influential figure, according to the BBC.
In 2011 West asked him to serve as the art director for his 2011 collaborative album with Jay-Z Watch the Throne, earning the designer a Grammy Awards nomination. In 2012, Abloh designed the cover art for WZRD's self-titled debut. In 2012, Abloh launched his first company, Pyrex Vision. He purchased deadstock clothing from Ralph Lauren for $40, screen-printed designs on them and sold them for prices upward of $550. He closed the company down a year later as he did not intend it to be a commercial enterprise, but an artistic experiment.
Abloh was featured in conversation with his friend and frequent collaborator Takashi Murakami on the cover of the fall 2018 issue of Cultured magazine.
In 2019, Abloh was appointed to the board of directors of The Council of Fashion Designers of America. The council seeks to promote the American fashion industry.
Abloh created a custom Off-White gown and veil for Hailey Bieber's wedding day. On the veil, he included his famous quotation marks design around the words "till death do us part".
In July 2021, LVMH announced it would be taking a 60% stake in Off-White, with founder Abloh, then the creative director of menswear for Louis Vuitton, retaining the remaining 40%. At the same time, Abloh was given greater creative control across the LVMH brand.
Abloh showcased an installation and billboard commission at the Spazio Maiocchi in Milan, Italy where he gave a speech on streetwear becoming "...the next global art movement”. Abloh's first solo art exhibition occurred at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2019. This show featured a large scale sculpture of Kanye West's Yeezus cover art and repeated photographs of Chief Keef wearing a Supreme t-shirt designed by Abloh. After Chicago, Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech traveled to the High Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and Qatar Museums, as part of the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture. The exhibition was intended to offer a mid-career retrospective of Abloh's endeavors in art, design and music. Brooklyn Museum displayed Figures of Speech from July 1, 2022 – January 29, 2023. Brooklyn's edition of the exhibition spanned the two decades of the artist's practice, including collaborations with artist Takashi Murakami, musician Kanye West, and architect Rem Koolhaas, among others; material from his fashion label Off-White; and items from Louis Vuitton, where he served as the first Black menswear artistic director. The installation also offered a space for gathering and performances, designed to counter the historical lack of space afforded to Black artists and Black people in cultural institutions.
The Museum of Modern Art has Abloh's works in its collection, and serval of these pieces were featured in , a 2025 exhibition of "widely recognized design icons ... highlighting pivotal moments in design history." The Museum of Modern Art announces Pirouette: Turning Points in Design Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
In May 2019 Pioneer DJ, maker of DJ consoles, announced its collaboration with Abloh in design of its transparent CDJ-2000NXS2 and DJM-900NXS2 models. The consoles were displayed at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art in the Figures of Speech Exhibition.
In June 2020, Abloh designed the original cover for Pop Smoke album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. The original cover came under heavy criticism from fans. On July 2, a new cover, designed by Ryder Ripps, was revealed along with the album's release. Abloh also worked on album art for artists ASAP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert's Luv Is Rage 2, Kanye West's Yeezus, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and Westside Gunn.
In 2021, he launched a new monthly two-hour internet radio show on Worldwide FM, "Imaginary Radio" c/o Virgil Abloh. The show featured DJ sets and interviews with musicians and other creatives; early guests included artists like electronic artist Omar-S and Alex Sowinski of BadBadNotGood. He previously had a show on Apple Music 1 called "TELEVISED RADIO". Five episodes were released between 2018 and 2020.
In 2021, the Museum of Modern Art published "You Can Do It Too": Songs for, by, and with Virgil Abloh.
The originality of Off-White's logo design with its alternating parallel diagonal lines has been contested by a number of parties, including Ben Kelly, who popularized this graphic in the early 1980s. Fashion blog Diet Prada has compared several of Abloh's designs, from chairs to apparel, with existing designs.
Abloh's fall/winter 2019 collection was based on his "ultimate muse", Michael Jackson. The launch occurred one week prior to the release of Leaving Neverland at the Sundance Film Festival. In response, Louis Vuitton announced they would not produce any items that directly featured Michael Jackson elements. Abloh also received criticism in early 2019 when images of his Off-White team suggested a lack of cultural diversity at his Headquarters.
In 2019, LVMH recorded a 20% growth in sales that were in part attributed to his appointment. However, in December 2019 Abloh predicted that streetwear would die in 2020 as people moved to vintage clothing. On the March 2020 launch of his collaboration with Japanese streetwear designer Nigo, Abloh retracted his earlier comments clarifying that he was only riffing, describing himself as a novice.
During the George Floyd protests in mid-2020, Abloh attracted criticism after posting on social media a screenshot showing that he had made a $50 donation to Miami-based art collective (F)empower to go towards protesters' legal costs, adding that he was "crazy inspired". He later said on Instagram that "I can understand your frustration if you think my contributions were limited to $50... that purely false when it comes to the total. I have donated $20,500 to bail funds and other causes related to this movement," and continued, "I will continue to donate more and will continue to use my voice to urge my peers to do the same." Abloh also subsequently stated that the looting of businesses during the George Floyd protests was an example of why streetwear "is dead".
In 2019, Abloh was diagnosed with Angiosarcoma, a rare type of cancer, though he kept the diagnosis private. He died on November 28, 2021, at the age of 41, in Chicago. With the family's permission, LVMH paid tribute to Abloh at their planned November 30 spin-out fashion show in Miami, with a theme of "Virgil was here". Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, ASAP Rocky, Bella Hadid, Pharrell Williams, Tahar Rahim, Venus Williams, Joe Jonas, Ricky Martin, Jeremy Pope, 21 Savage, Joan Smalls, and Bernard Arnault attended the tribute. Louis Vuitton dedicated its window displays worldwide, also using the dedication "Virgil was here".
Kanye West later led a tribute to Abloh at his Sunday Service event with the song Easy on Me by Adele on November 28, 2021.
Abloh's funeral service took place on December 6, 2021, in Chicago, with Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kid Cudi, Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa, Lauryn Hill, Don C, and Jerry Lorenzo in attendance among his family and other close friends.
In March 2022, Lil Durk and Gunna paid tribute to Virgil with the song "What Happened to Virgil".
Art
Abloh worked frequently with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Abloh was given a solo art show in Murakami's Kaikai Kiki art gallery in Tokyo, Japan. Pieces of their artwork were showcased together at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Murakami's shop Oz Zingaro in Tokyo. In 2018, Abloh and Murakami collaborated on a series of exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery's outposts in London, Murakami & Abloh: future history, February 21 – April 7, 2018 Gagosian Gallery. Paris, and Beverly Hills. In 2019, Abloh introduced the MCA speech campaign for the CTA's Red Line train wrap. The train station in Chicago on the account account Instagram of @virgilabloh Figures of Speech
Music
Abloh's interest in music led him to Disc jockey beginning in his teens. He DJ'd at house parties throughout high school and college. His influences included DJ's A-Trak, Benji B, and Gilles Peterson. Over the years, Abloh gained recognition as a DJ and started playing shows internationally. He played at Hi Ibiza and was also booked for the 2019 edition of the Tomorrowland festival. Abloh released his first single "Orvnge" with German DJ/producer Boys Noize in January 2018. In June 2019, Abloh was named to a DJ residency at Wynn Las Vegas's XS Nightclub, with Wynn also agreeing to open an Off-White store.
Views
Abloh noted that one of his principles is that a new design can be created by changing an original by only three percent. He described his approach as being "ironic detachment" and that Marcel Duchamp Ready mades "gives him the grounds to copy and paste, to take and to re-apply". This philosophy caused Abloh to be accused of plagiarism and appropriation.
Philanthropy
In 2020, he established the Virgil Abloh "Post-Modern" Scholarship Fund. Abloh raised $1 million for the scholarships which will be managed by the Fashion Scholarship Fund to assist Black students. In July 2020, Abloh's brand Off-White launched a fundraising program called "I Support Young Black Businesses" that sold Hoodies and T-shirts with "I Support Young Black Businesses" written on them. All of those proceeds went to an organization called Chicago CRED, aimed to diminish gun violence. Also that year, with Nike he finished the redesign and renovations of the Boys and Girls Club facility in East Garfield Park, Chicago. Abloh spent significant amounts of his time to mentor and provide mentoring resources to young designers.
Awards and honors
Abloh received his first major award in 2011 when his work designing the cover art for American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West's collaborative album Watch the Throne was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. In 2015, Abloh (for Off-White) was one of the finalists for the LVMH Prize. Abloh was the only American designer to be nominated for the award that year. Abloh's Charlie Hebdo-inspired "War is Not Over!" tees as well as his toppers from his fall 2015 women's collection gained him the most traction. He received the Urban Luxe award at the 2017 British Fashion Awards. He also won International designer of the Year at the GQ Men of the Year awards in 2017. Abloh's Off-White Air Jordan "the Ten" collaboration won 2017's Shoe of the Year and he received the nod for Accessory Designer of the Year. Abloh was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, one of two designers named that year. In the Time issue, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami wrote that Abloh's impressive achievements led to his listing. In December 2018, Abloh was honored as a leading innovator by Ebony Power 100. Abloh was also nominated for 2019 Menswear Designer of the Year. As a tribute to Abloh, Kid Cudi released an album titled Entergalactic, which was released on his birthday September 30.
In 2025, a retrospective exhibition of Abloh's work, Virgil Abloh: The Codes, was held at the Grand Palais in Paris during Paris Fashion Week.
Personal life and death
Abloh met his wife, Shannon Sundberg, in high school, where they began dating. After 10 years of dating, Abloh and Sundberg married in Chicago in 2009. Abloh lived in Chicago with his wife and their two children.
Books
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1980 Births, 2021 Deaths, 21st-century African-american Artists, 21st-century American Businesspeople, African-american Djs, African-american Architects, African-american Fashion Designers, American Fashion Designers, American Art Directors, American People Of Ghanaian Descent, Businesspeople From Chicago, Deaths From Angiosarcoma, Deaths From Cancer In Illinois, Ewe People, Illinois Institute Of Technology Alumni, People From Rockford, Illinois, Record Producers From Illinois, University Of Wisconsin–madison College Of Engineering Alumni, 21st-century African-american Businesspeople, African-american Designers
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