Outsiders Rising: Virgil Abloh
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
I first heard the name Virgil Abloh in 2019 in the Afrobeats song “Location” by one of my favorite Nigerian singers - Burna Boy. In doing the research to write this week’s newsletter I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Abloh has been a big name in fashion for well over a decade. That shows how unqualified I am to call myself a fashionista! 😅
Abloh was born in the United States in the Chicago area in 1980 to Ghanaian parents who had emigrated to the US just a few years earlier. His mother was a seamstress and his father managed a paint business. It seems as if his parents' vocations had an impression on young Abloh because he grew up loving graffiti and fashion. His other interests included hip hop, skateboarding, and Michael Jordan. Abloh was a teenager during the 1990s dominance of the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls.
As a young man, Abloh and his friends used to create concept sneakers and mail them to Nike in the hopes of getting recognized, but the company never responded.
After high school, Abloh studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in 2002. In continuing to build on his engineering studies, Abloh enrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology for a Master of Architecture degree. It was while he was there that his interest in fashion piqued and he started designing t-shirts and began writing for a well known fashion and design blog - The Brilliance.
Abloh would meet Kanye West for the first time while Abloh was working on t-shirt designs at a print shop in Chicago. In 2009, they both worked in Rome as interns at Fendi and that would change everything for Abloh. Later that year, Abloh and West's artistic partner, Don C, launched a retail store, called the RSVP Gallery in Chicago. Their retail space became known for carrying a mixture of fashion apparel and for its reflection of Virgil's style on his design for the store interior. A year later, West appointed Abloh creative director of DONDA - his creative agency.
In 2012, Abloh launched his first company, Pyrex Vision. Abloh purchased unsold t-shirt inventory for very cheap from companies like Ralph Lauren, screen-printed designs on them and sold them for prices in excess of $550.
Abloh founded his first fashion house and second business in 2013 with the high-end streetwear brand Off-White - based in Milan, Italy. Launching this brand led to a widespread gain of attention in Europe before expanding to Asia and North America. The clothing line can be identified through its use of quotation marks, zip-ties, capital letters and barricade tape. He launched the Off-White women’s wear line in 2014 and showed the collections at that year’s Paris Fashion Week.
Abloh launched his first concept store for Off-White in Tokyo where he started the company's furniture arm, Grey Area. In 2017, he was asked to design a new collection in conjunction with Nike entitled "The Ten" where he re-designed a variety of the company’s best selling shoes.
Abloh also partnered up with the Swedish furniture company IKEA to design furniture for apartments and houses. The collection was named Markerad, which is a Swedish word meaning "clear-cut; crisp; pronounced", and was released in 2019. He envisions the collection to include practical furniture that features contemporary designs.
In March 2018, Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men's ready wear line, making him the first African to lead the brand's menswear line, as well as one of the few black designers at the helm of a major French fashion design house.
In June 2018, Virgil Abloh released a special collaboration with the luggage manufacturer Rimowa which resulted in a limited edition transparent suitcase. Abloh has made major contributions in the world of Art through work he’s done with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. He has received recognition as a music DJ and has even released his own music.
It’s been fun to learn about Abloh and the world of high fashion which I admit I don’t know very much about. I hope you’ve found his story interesting too.
That’s the brief story of Virgil Abloh. A true rising outsider.
Until next time… ✌🏾
Munatsi
Twitter: @Munatsi_
Twitter: @OutsiderRising
PS: If you are enjoying these profiles I am creating please do share using the green button below. You can also send me email addresses you’d like me to add to my mailing list.