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His expansive approach to design inspired comparisons to artists including Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. For him, clothes were totems of identity.
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By Vanessa Friedman
Virgil Abloh, the barrier-breaking Black designer whose ascent to the heights of the traditional luxury industry changed what was possible in fashion, died on Sunday in Chicago after a two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare cancer. He was 41.
His death was confirmed by his family.
The artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s wear as well as the founder of his own brand, Off-White, Mr. Abloh was a prolific collaborator with outside brands from Nike to Evian, and a popular fashion theorist whose expansive and occasionally controversial approach to design inspired comparisons with everyone from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons.
Mr. Abloh transformed not just what consumers wanted to wear, bridging hypebeast culture and the luxury world, but what brands wanted in a designer — and the meaning of “fashion” itself.
For him clothes were not garments but fungible totems of identity that sat at the nexus of art, music, politics and philosophy. He was a master of using irony, reference and the self-aware wink (plus the digital world) to re-contextualize the familiar and give it an aura of cultural currency.
“Everything I do is for the 17-year-old version of myself,” his wife quoted him as saying in an Instagram post. He believed deeply, she wrote, “in the power of art to inspire future generations.”
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
Virgil Abloh, the visionary creator of Off-White and the head of Louis Vuitton men’s wear, died on Sunday at 41, after a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer.
Here are some memorable moments from his barrier-breaking career →
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
The Off-White leather bustier and wide-legged pants that Joan Smalls wore to the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards put her on many best-dressed lists, showing that a brand labeled as street wear could be red-carpet elegant.
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
Abloh often rebelled against the categorization of Off-White as street wear. Case in point: the tailored coat dress Bella Hadid wore to the 2017 Council of Fashion Designers of America awards.
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
Abloh rejected the idea that his work could be put in a box: See the Off-White x Nike tennis tutu he designed for Serena Williams at the 2018 U.S. Open. Williams recalled seeing the tutu as “the moment I’ve been waiting for.”
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
Timothée Chalamet instantly became a talking point when he wore a custom Louis Vuitton harness designed by Abloh to the Golden Globes in 2019. Love it or hate it, the concept of the tux would never be the same.
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
When Spike Lee made history as the first Black director to be president of the Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury, his Louis Vuitton wardrobe also made a statement on the red carpet.
Virgil Abloh’s Celebrity Influence
In November, the Korean boy band BTS chose coordinating Louis Vuitton suits for the American Music Awards; they had crossed over to join the brand’s group of international ambassadors earlier in the year.
Read more on Abloh’s life and work:
- Virgil Abloh, Path-Blazing Designer, Is Dead at 41
- Virgil Abloh, Ambassador and Infiltrator
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