Virgil Abloh

Virgil Abloh ( September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. One of the most influential and respected fashion designers of his generation, he began his own line of streetwear clothing, Pyrex Vision, in 2012, and became the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013. Abloh was also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection beginning in 2018, and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021. A trained architect, Abloh, who also worked in Chicago street fashion, 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. In 2013, Abloh founded Off-White. The first African-American to be artistic director at a French luxury fashion house when he joined LVMH in 2018, Abloh 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 inspirational figure, according to the BBC. Virgil Abloh was born on September 30, 1980, in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian immigrant parents. His mother was a seamstress and his father managed a paint company. From his mother, he learned how to sew. Abloh was raised in Rockford, where he attended Boylan Catholic High School, graduating in 1998. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering.  He received his Master of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2006.  When Abloh was attending IIT, there was a building on campus under construction designed by the architect Rem Koolhaas (who had also worked on runway collections for Prada). Koolhaas's building helped spark his interest in fashion. Abloh was further inspired by Crown Hall, a modernist masterpiece designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Abloh's master's thesis project involved a design for a Chicago skyscraper, which curved in the direction of Lake Michigan, as if leaning toward the rising sun. While studying architecture, he also designed T-shirts and wrote on fashion and design for a well-known blog, The Brilliance. Abloh first met musician Kanye West while working on his designs at a Chicago print shop. Abloh lived in Chicago with his wife, Shannon, and their two children. In 2019, Abloh was diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma, a 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". Abloh's funeral service took place on December 6, 2021, in Chicago, with Drake, Rihanna, West, Kardashian, Kid Cudi, Tyler, the Creator, ASAP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa, Lauryn Hill, Don C, and Jerry Lorenzo in attendance amongst his family and other close friends.