Virgil Abloh—the highly influential fashion designer, Off-White founder, and Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of menswear—and has died at the age of 41. Louis Vuitton announced the news in an Instagram post earlier today (November 28), stating that Abloh had been privately living with cancer for several years. “We are all shocked by this terrible news,” LVMH’s CEO Bernard Arnault said in the statement. “Virgil was not only a genius designer and a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom. The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow and we are all thinking of his loved ones on the passing of their husband, father, brother, son and friend.” Find the full post below.
Virgil Abloh was born in Rockford, Illinois to Ghanaian parents. After studying civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, he shifted his focus to fashion design. In 2009, he interned at the Rome-based design house Fendi. Kanye West, who was a friend of Abloh’s from Chicago, was also an intern at the esteemed fashion company during that time. Abloh would later serve as West’s creative director.
Abloh launched Off-White in 2013. The label, and much of Abloh’s work, drew inspiration from mundane objects, and the artistic potential for elevating familiar things. “Everyday objects, a pair of socks, a T-shirt, can all be made into high fashion using intellect,” he told Art Net in 2018. “It’s something that is as impactful as Duchamp saying that a urinal is a fountain. And I think that anything made after that can be seen in a different light. Culture itself can be looked at in a certain way.”
In 2018, Abloh became the first African American to become artistic director of menswear at high end French label Louis Vuitton. His first collection for the brand—a parade of rainbow colored luxury streetwear—was displayed in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris.
In addition to his work as a designer, Abloh deejayed under the alias Flat-White, and collaborated with a number of artists. In January, he shared the song “Delicate Limbs” featuring serpentwithfeet. His previous release was Orvnge, a collaborative EP with German producer Boys Noize. Last summer, he featured on “SHOES,” a track from Lupe Fiasco and Kaelin Ellis’ HOUSE EP.
An outpouring of tributes from the music community have surfaced since Abloh’s death was announced. “My heart is broken,” Pharrell wrote on Twitter. “Virgil you were a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius your work as a human and your work as a spiritual being will live forever Sending love and light to your wife, children, family and day ones you’re with the Master now, shine.”
