The polymath designer-architect dies in his battle against cancer at age 41, but the fashion language and legacy he leaves behind will last for generations
When we look back on the history of civilization, there will be some poignant defining moments in every field, moments that completely turned the industry 180 degrees over what was happening up to that point. When Virgil Abloh decided to buy $40 worth of vintage Ralph Lauren ware, paint them on, and then sell them under his new brand, Pyrex Vision, for more than 10 times that price, few knew. That he will change the fashion world. Forever – fast enough and so slow that even the biggest names have to line up (this new).
But Pyrex wasn’t about profits either; It had a much deeper message: shedding light on representing youth culture and what would soon be defined as streetwear. It was a mirror that was being placed before the fashion giants to show them how indifferent the entire industry is to the voices of the current generation. Virgil, with a small trick, prompts everyone to sit down and take notice. And all this when he was barely getting started.
Designs from Abloh’s Louis Vuitton Fall-Winter 2021 Collection
,I’m not a fashion designer
A young engineering graduate who also received an architecture masters along the way and was seen as a late novice at Fendi’s Rome office (along with Yeh, formerly run by Kanye West), Virgil never claimed to be a fashion designer. As he said, he was “riding the wave” every day in the design world, observing it, studying it, and imagining when and where it would break.
In 2013, when he founded Off-White – which he defined as the gray between black and white – out of Milan, his influence grew. Their first release, though rooted in deep design with rich historical allegory, was interpreted in a way that everyone could relate to. It was quite polarizing—zip ties, Caravaggio canvases, the Bauhaus effect, those ubiquitous double quotes. People either loved it or totally made fun of it, no one was on the fence with what Virgil presented you.
He claimed that he was simply an observer who took things as they were and changed them by 3%, so much so that they were recognizable and yet completely new. It is strongly reminiscent of a sculpture by French artist Marcel Duchamp for an exhibition in Paris in 1917, in which he sent him a typical male urinal (signed to R Math), but labeled it as a fountain.
Virgil was not a copycat, as many once alleged; He was absolutely brilliant at reapplication. To use a cliché, he saw things as they weren’t and questioned, why the hell not.
Some collabs from Abloh – Moet & Chandon, Nike, Ginori 1735m and Ikea
in league of legends
Final recognition would then have come in the form of his multiple collaborations with Nike ‘The Ten’ series being appointed artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton and head of Kanye West’s brand Donda as creative director.
But the real impact was on the road, where he encouraged people to come up with their own iteration of the off-white design language. His double quotes have become perhaps the most recognizable graffiti motif since Banksy’s works.
Since 2019, Virgil was battling a rare and fatal form of cancer and yet, through his difficult treatments and remedies, he completely sealed it and the work continued as usual. His new collection was now the most awaited event of the year, as the enthusiasm of all the fashion critics, who sat patiently waiting for him to tear it apart, were always eager to see how he took the idea of fashion and style forward. Extend and redefine. ,
One of his last shows, in 2020, was in Tokyo for Louis Vuitton, where he showed some very obvious and heavy influences from Ghana, a pandemic-era show where he spoke somewhat heavily about the relationship between provenance and ownership. Ask questions He did not shy away from being influenced by the elements of his life and everything around him; Rather she embraced them with enthusiasm, pride, and just the right amount of grin-inducing chutzpah.
On November 28, 41-year-old Virgil Abloh finally succumbed to cardiac angiosarcoma, which had tried to slow down his success story, but had so far been unsuccessful. The work he leaves will continue to develop fashion and design forever. His works and influence will be talked about in the same league as Warhol, Basquiat and Haring. He was not a fashion designer, he was a visionary. He didn’t design, he interpreted it, took it out and displayed it from life quotes and made us all sit down and notice that we weren’t all together. Off-White, to me, isn’t just a brand that places streetwear right next to haute couture, it was the language of a one-man tour de force that, now, we’re all learning and will be using as a normal medium of communication. Using a form that speaks to generations, cultures and socio-economic divisions.
If fashion ever wielded the power to unite and define an era, we would all be living it now, thanks to the actions of this one person. We should be so lucky. Thanks, Virgil, for everything.
Magandeep Singh is a lifestyle and luxury columnist.
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