The Virgil Abloh Affect--The Legacy He Built For Us All Beyond Fashion
On Sunday, November 28, 2022, the sky went dark. The news of visionary designer Virgil Abloh’s passing was hitting every media platform, and everyone's social media page. The message both devasted and shocked the fashion and creative communities. The Louis Vuitton men’s creative director and Off-White founder had been privately battling cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer since 2019.
Verified
"LVMH, Louis Vuitton, and Off White are devastated to announce the passing of Virgil Abloh, on Sunday, November 28th, of cancer, which he had been battling privately for several years. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, said “We are all shocked by this terrible news. 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.”
That was the message we all read that day. It was a blow to so many for different reasons. But for the fashion world, It was most devastating because Virgil Abloh represented so much for our dreams, and creatives who saw him as one of us, a person of color, a Black man--he crossed boundaries, he went through doors that made us feel proud and hopeful of the industry we love so deeply.
We didn't need to meet him personally. We didn't need to ever have been in the same room with him. His very existence in such a space meant we stood a fighting chance. Such a powerful thing to shoulder, knowing that your life, your work, your mind matter to more than just yourself. This is why representation matters-- it quietly, unknowing saves the lives of so many who may feel hopeless and gives reason to those who may doubt.
For me, I think what I admire most about Abloh's rise to "success" was the manner in which he did so. It didn't seem pretentious or overly demanding. But make no mistake it doesn't mean it wasn't intentional. I speculate based on all his interviews it was carefully calculated. Virgil didn't move as though he was playing checkers but he made chess moves in a game of checkers.
In my humble opinion, his association and friendship with Kanye West was definitely that thing, that major ingredient that made so much of it possible. Virgil was the creative director for Kanye's creative agency Donda, before starting his first brand, Pyrex Vision, in 2012. He then founded his streetwear label, Off-White, in 2014. Their friendship and the working relationship seemed to have withstood the disappointing blow that Kanye felt and admitted to facing when Abloh was offered the position of the Men's Artistic Director at LVMH.
Naomi Campbell did an extraordinary interview with Virgil for British Vogue, that will give you a wonderful perspective on this genius--the eloquent man who made a generation proud.
The legacy left by Virgil is for all to be celebrated and to take part in. His life was filled with purpose in ways we can't simply limit to just the fashion world. It can't be contained to a season of clothing. But see it for what it is the student became the teacher.
His memorial was well attended and his life honored at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which held an exhibit dedicated to Abloh’s work in 2018. According to the Daily Mail, it was a heartfelt occasion by countless celebrities which would include Kanye West, Kim Kardashian-West, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, and Lauren Hill performed and the eulogies were given by his wife Shannon Abloh and others.
LVMH moved forward with the scheduled release of his show by releasing "Virgil Was Here". To the industry and the world "Virgil was here & Virgil is still here! Thank you Virgil Abloh, job well done.