Remembering Virgil Abloh: The Architect of Fashion’s Future
By Ava Shapiro
The late Virgil Abloh, artistic director at Louis Vuitton, CEO and founder of luxury brand Off-White and self-made fashion designer had no formal fashion education before his big break. With an architecture background, he didn't exactly have the traditional trajectory of other major names in fashion. Nonetheless, Abloh’s keen understanding of his own creative vision and his passion for his craft made him one of the most iconic and influential fashion designers of our time.
With the likes of other iconic figures, the fashion community has expanded upon the types of backgrounds one can have to become a fashion designer. Tom Ford, for example, also studied Architecture before switching to Fashion. In a similar vein, Raf Simmons, who has famously worked with Calvin Klein, Dior, and most recently Prada, began as a furniture designer. While these examples are of people with backgrounds in design, many famous names in fashion came from even less traditional beginnings: Vivienne Westwood started off as an art teacher, Giorgio Armani attended medical school, and Vera Wang was a figure skater trying out for the Olympic team. In another life, these icons may have never tried their hand at fashion and could have pursued their plan A, but they all share a desire to design clothing and the guts to break the rules.
Virgil Abloh may not have initially intended to go into the fashion industry, yet his creativity and passion for design were always present in his life. Born to Ghanaian immigrants in Rockford, Illinois, he was always interested in artistic pursuits, immersing himself in skater and hip-hop culture. Abloh graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an Engineering degree and later received his Master’s in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. While studying at IIT, he took note of a building under construction designed by famed architect Rem Koolhaas, known for his unique and almost gravity-defying works. He then became inspired by this structure to work on his own designs in fashion, starting his brand The Brilliance, which he eventually tabled to create Off-White. It was actually through designing t-shirts in Chicago that he met rapper Kanye West, who felt connected to Abloh’s vision and was inspired by his work, especially since they have a shared upbringing as young artists in Chicago. Kanye eventually took him in and named him creative director of West’s own creative label, and even helped him get an internship with Fendi.
Abloh’s unique creative vision and perspective from his architectural background gave him an edge over others starting in the fashion industry. Although he did not use his degree in Architecture as he had originally planned, he credits the discipline’s values of understanding one’s scope and intricate planning to influencing his creative process. Interestingly, his architectural background informed more of his thought process than his actual designs. In an interview with Dezeen, he stated “I don't believe in disciplines... We can use our architecture brain and do many things, not just what we're supposed to do.”
Abloh’s nontraditional background came through his unconventional approach to fashion design. Particularly within his luxury streetwear brand Off-White, Abloh broke the barriers of what is typically thought of as “fashion” and posed questions about what fashion can be, mainly dealing with the industry’s role as a social tool. However, he avoided taking his creative expression too seriously, stating in The Cut, “Fashion is kinda a joke… I don't get too bogged down in the clothes. For me, it's one big art project, just a canvas to show that fashion should have a brand that has someone behind it who cares about different contexts.” All in all, Virgil Abloh perceived fashion to represent much more about the person inside the clothes than what the pieces themselves are supposed to mean. “Life is the hard part,” he said in an interview with GQ, “Fashion isn’t.”
In addition to his trailblazing efforts for those with unorthodox fashion backgrounds, Abloh also became a leader in diversifying the fashion community and expanding upon high fashion’s inclusivity. While many luxury brands have had their fair share of mistakes, Abloh has always prioritized diversity within his work. He had an understanding of his duty to pave the way for others of marginalized identities as one of the first Black designers in charge of a major French fashion house. He always made it a point to include models of varying racial identities and mostly cast people who inspired him, even having the Black poet Saul Williams open the Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2021 menswear collection.
In terms of gender diversity, he designed a variety of menswear and womenswear. He created clothing that defied traditional gender norms, including his spring/summer 2021 Off-White collection that included African-inspired skirts for men. Abloh also felt a need to diversify the audiences of his runway collections, inviting Parisian youths to sit front row at many of his shows. He even created a fund entitled the “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund and raised $1 million dollars for Black fashion students. Abloh’s main goal wasn’t to be the most successful designer or the highest paid, but rather to serve as an inspiration for the creatives of the next generation.
What may be even more fascinating about his work was his approach to fashion as a means of social critique and self-expression, which showcased his talent for incorporating intellectual diversity in his work. Off-White’s signature style was the quotation marks around certain buzz words or even the words that describe what the product is—i.e. creating a scarf that has “scarf” written on it, or knee-high boots that say “for walking” up the leg. This meta-commentary on what fashion is supposed to mean encapsulates his perspective that the clothes aren’t what matters; instead, their significance lies in what they represent to the person wearing them. Abloh’s passion for inspiring the designers of the future and unique manner of sharing his philosophy have solidified him as one of fashion’s most innovative figures in its history.
Although Abloh wasn’t the first designer to make it big without formal fashion education, his identity as a Black man makes his experience even more unique and inspirational for those who will follow in his footsteps. Even though he is no longer with us, his undeniable impact will live on forever. Beyond his legacy as a fashion designer, Abloh’s commitment to his artistic vision will inspire the next generation of creatives to bring their ideas to life.
“I take pride in the fact that there’s a kid who’s living in, you know, Alabama, who never thought something like this was possible for him,” he said in his GQ interview from 2018. “I’m not doing that for myself. I’m doing it to be a beacon of hope for someone. This is the legacy of any artist or creative: you want to make sure that your work makes an impact.”