Creative Director CV: Virgil Abloh

The Beginnings

Virgil Abloh was born in September 1980 in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in 1998. He completed an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, allegedly opting to miss a final graduation-day critique to meet with Kanye West’s then-manager John “Monop” Monopoly. In 2006, Abloh earned a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He credited the curriculum, established by architecture legend Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as a crucial factor in his ability to unite the fields of art, craft and design. He also cited a building by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, under construction during his time on campus, as an influence. Like Abloh, the Dutch architect and long-term Prada affiliate took a cross-disciplinary approach to creativity, and some writers have connected Abloh’s signature use of the color orange to the building. 

During this same time period, Abloh’s friendship and professional relationship with West began to grow. His studies at IIT made him an expert at mocking up T-shirt designs using Adobe creative software (“He’s the fastest Photoshop artist ever,” West once said), which led to a job offer from Custom Kings, the Chicago screen-printing shop he patronized. Through the shop, he met Don C, a manager and designer who invited Abloh to do design work for West. He became West’s creative consultant at the precocious age of 22. As their partnership flourished, Abloh's influence expanded, leading to the position of creative director at Donda, West’s creative think tank, in 2010. Abloh’s creative prowess informed a diverse array of projects, including tour sets, merchandise design and album artwork.

In 2009, Abloh and Don C opened RSVP Gallery, a conceptual fashion retail space in Chicago designed by Abloh. That same year, Fendi invited Abloh and West to intern at their headquarters in Rome.

In 2011, Abloh received his first major artistic recognition when he earned a Grammy nomination for the cover art on JAY-Z and West’s album Watch the Throne, which he designed with Riccardo Tisci. Inevitably, Abloh decided to step out on his own, and launched his debut label, Pyrex Vision, in 2012. The grunge-indebted menswear project reworked and repurposed store-bought clothes, including flannel shirts from Ralph Lauren and other brands, by screen-printing "PYREX 23" on them—a reference to the glassware brand Pyrex and Michael Jordan’s famous number. 

After Pyrex Vision, Abloh established lifestyle collective Been Trill with friends Matthew Williams, Heron Preston, Justin Saunders, Florencia Galarza and another, anonymous member known as YWP. The de facto DJ crew branched into streetwear by printing Rocky Horror Picture Show-inspired typefaces on graphic tees, and infamously sold $100 shoelaces.

Abloh launched his main and most famous label, Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, in 2013. He described the project, based in Milan, Italy, as “the grey area between black and white,” a reference to blurring the line between streetwear and luxury. Off-White enjoyed a meteoric rise: Abloh was nominated for the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers in 2015, and showed at Paris Fashion Week for the first time one year later.

As Off-White went from strength to strength, Abloh—who was obsessed with BBC radio’s Gilles Peterson from a young age, and cited British DJ Benji B as a mentor—also pursued a career in DJing. He performed opening sets at Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival and Travis Scott’s Astroworld. He also made music videos for the likes of A$AP Rocky and Lil Uzi Vert.

By 2018, Abloh had firmly positioned himself among the fashion industry’s most creative minds, most notably for his collaborative endeavors. Moncler, Levi’s, Byredo, Rimowa, Moët & Chandon, and IKEA all worked with Abloh. However, it was his collaboration with Nike that launched his career into the stratosphere. For “The Ten,” Abloh applied his deconstructivist design language to 10 sneaker icons from the brand’s archive, all of which immediately sold out. “What we’re talking about here is larger than sneakers, it’s larger than design culture,” said Abloh. “It’s nothing short of state-of-the-art design. These 10 shoes have broken barriers in performance and style. To me, they are on the same level as the sculpture of David or the Mona Lisa. You can debate it all you want, but they mean something. And, that’s what’s important.”

In 2018, Abloh assumed the position of Louis Vuitton’s new artistic director for menswear, succeeding Kim Jones. The groundbreaking appointment made him the first African-American to hold the position at the renowned French fashion brand.

Abloh died on November 28, 2021, at the age of 41, in Chicago, following a private battle with cancer. 

Virgil Abloh’s Design Approach

Virgil Abloh at Fendi

After the 2009 music tour ‘Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga’ was canceled, Kanye West had extra time on his hands. He was still in the formative days of his design career, but Michael Burke, then the head of Fendi and later the chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, had taken note of his and Abloh’s potential. Burke invited them to intern at Fendi’s headquarters in Rome—paying them $500 per month.

West described the time to Hot 97 as “going to work every day, walking to work and getting some cappuccinos.” No clothing emerged from the partnership, and West later claimed that they had proposed the idea of leather jogging pants to Fendi, only to be rejected. “We couldn’t do anything, we were just happy to have a key card,” he told Charlamagne Tha God in an interview. “We didn’t know how to make real clothes, we used a lot of Photoshop but we didn’t make real clothes.” 

Nonetheless, the experience did leave a lasting impression on Burke. In 2018, he appointed Abloh as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director for menswear. He also praised the “disruptive” spirit the pair brought to the studio during their internship.

Virgil Abloh at Off-White

Off-White was Abloh’s brainchild and the platform for his creative vision of streetwear-meets-luxury. The label’s philosophy was underpinned by a wry approach to branding, operating in a mode of ironic detachment through devices like quote marks, typefaces, zip-ties and diagonal lines. "You can use typography and wording to completely change the perception of a thing without changing anything about it," Abloh explained to 032c. "If I take a men’s sweatshirt and write ‘woman’ on its back, that’s art." 

While Off-White began as a “chic, refined and elevated” take on streetwear, its clothing program eventually evolved to utilize more formal tailoring cues. Seasonal collections collided skateboard with boardroom cultures, and grew to encompass suiting and business casual attire. The approach was exemplified by Off-White Men’s Fall 2018 collection, which tapped into style influences of the late ’80s and early ’90s to forecast how future business leaders might choose to dress. Political messaging also appeared more frequently, notably manifesting in a politically charged show at Pitti Uomo that saw iconic artist Jenny Holzer create light projections based on poems by refugees.

Six months after Abloh’s passing, long-term collaborative partner and stylist Ib Kamara was announced as his successor, taking the role of art and image director. In 2022, Off-White unveiled its first-ever couture collection.

Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton

After being announced as Louis Vuitton’s menswear artistic director in 2018, Abloh set about bringing streetwear and underground influences to the luxury empire. Frequent collaborator and mentor DJ Benji B followed him to the house as sound director, joined by model Lucien Clarke, who became the house’s first-ever signed skateboarder.  

Abloh unveiled his blueprint for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2019, in one of the most eagerly awaited runway shows ever. Using the rainbow as a central visual metaphor, with audience members dressed in primary colors, the collection was themed around ideas of perception and inclusivity. In his show notes, Abloh used an A-Z format to speak of terms such as “accessomorphosis,” a term he coined to describe the fusing of apparel and accessories to make new garments, and "Margielaism,” meaning “the normative fashion religion of a reverent generation of young designers to which Virgil belongs.” 

The show’s extravagant designs established the direction Abloh would take for the remainder of his LV tenure, reinvigorating the brand’s iconic monogram with primary colors and glow-in-the dark details. The same playful touch he brought to Off-White was also evident: for example, in the “mid-layer garments” popularly referred to as harnesses or bibs, which would become an Abloh signature, and in a revamped pair of LV’s famous Millionaire sunglasses. Following runway appearances from A$AP Bari, Playboi Carti and Kid Cudi, the show finished with a tearful embrace between Abloh and Kanye West. 

From there, Abloh continued to transform the traditional conventions of Louis Vuitton with touches of streetwear. Collaboration landmarks included the LV² collection with Nigo—a tailoring-heavy project inspired by the Japanese designer’s enthusiasm for British subcultures—and a sports-luxury crossover with the NBA in homage to Abloh’s love of ’90s basketball. 

Footwear played a prominent role in Abloh’s Louis Vuitton universe, beginning with the LV Trainer, a design executed in both high and low-top form that bore similarities to ’80s basketball silhouettes. For Spring/Summer 2022, Abloh orchestrated a partnership between Louis Vuitton and Nike, resulting in 47 custom Air Force 1 designs. Each piece was a meticulously crafted objet d’art, blending the sneaker’s timelessness with the maison’s intrinsic sense of luxury. In February 2022, 200 pairs of the shoes sold at auction for $25 million. Proceeds from the sale helped fund a scholarship created by Abloh prior to his death that supports aspiring Black designers.

Following Abloh’s passing, Louis Vuitton presented its FW23 collection in collaboration with Colm Dillane, more commonly known as KidSuper. In February 2023, the house announced Pharrell Williams as Abloh’s successor.

Virgil Abloh Collaborations

From Levi’s, Vitra and IKEA to Mercedes-Benz, Evian and Chrome Hearts, Abloh’s prolific collaborative output is rivaled by few other designs. Below, a guide to some of his most notable projects.

Off-White x Nike “The Ten”

Virgil Abloh was a fan of the Swoosh since childhood. “My friend Chris Eaton and I used to be so obsessed with Jordan that we were drawing Nike shoes and sending them to Nike. And, Nike would be like, ‘Oh, we don’t accept designs,” Abloh told GQ in 2019. In a career-defining project called “The Ten,” the designer realized a lifelong dream when Nike senior director Fraser Cooke invited him to give a postmodern facelift to 10 footwear icons from the brand’s archive.

The initiative encompassed not only Nike sneakers, but models from Nike-owned entities like Converse and Jordan. The initial releases came out in two packs of five each, from late October through early November 2017. The “REVEALING” pack contained the Air Jordan 1, Air Max 90, Air Presto, Air VaporMax and Blazer Mid, while the “GHOSTING” pack included a Nike Air Max 97, React Hyperdunk, Air Force 1, Zoom Vaporfly and Converse Chuck Taylor All Star. Each shoe featured an orange tab that marked the shoe as an Abloh design.

In typically Abloh-ian fashion, the creative venture saw him tear apart the silhouettes with X-Acto knives and reconstruct them with the addition of Sharpie scribbles, typeface elements and zip-ties. The shoes were heralded as some of the most acclaimed in sneaker history. Below, a closeup of the most notable: 

Off-White x Air Jordan 1

Key colorways: ‘White,’ ‘Chicago’ and ‘UNC’

The hero sneaker in “The Ten” and arguably Abloh’s design magnum opus, the Air Jordan 1 was instantly celebrated as a sneaker icon. During the initial design process, Abloh was curious whether the shoe actually contained an Air bag, which Nike designers confirmed, explaining that it wasn’t visible due to technological constraints  when it was created in 1985. After sticking an X-Acto knife into the midsole and hitting the Air pocket, Abloh was inspired to write “Air” on the shoe in his signature Helvetica font, to illustrate its presence. Additional elements include an exposed mesh tongue, layered panels and a loosely tacked Swoosh. 

Since the inaugural ‘Chicago’ colorway, Abloh brought his design to other colorways, including ‘UNC’ and ‘White.’

Off-White x Nike Dunk Low

Key colorways: 'Pine Green,' 'UNC,' 'The Ten,' 'University Red,' 'University Gold'

Off-White first partnered on a Dunk with Flywire over-lacing in 2019. That effort eventually grew into a collection of 50 pairs, one of the designer’s most expansive projects with Nike. Abloh also worked with graffiti artist Futura on a limited selection of Dunk Low silhouettes.

Off-White x Nike Air Force 1

Key colorways: 'The Ten,' 'Black,' 'Volt' and 'Lemonade'

Arguably the most versatile design in “The Ten,” Abloh remastered the Air Force 1 with translucent panels, deconstructed elements, vivid stitching and the signature zip-tie. 

Off-White x Air Jordan 4

Key colorways: ‘Sail’

First previewed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s “Virgil Abloh: ‘Figures of Speech’” show in 2019, the Off-White iteration of the Air Jordan 4 was initially assumed to be a sample. The ‘Sail’ colorway eventually came out in July 2020, complete with the signature “Shoelaces” call-out in a trio of options, translucent mesh details and the “Air” midsole label in black.

Virgil Abloh’s Signature Style

Abloh’s work often adheres to a philosophy he calls the “3% rule,” referring to the idea that an existing item only needs to be changed 3% to create something new, but still familiar enough to be pleasing. He also once remarked, “Design is the biggest scam,” a nod to his work’s ironic tweaks and wry sense of humor.

The designer questioned the prevailing obsession with originality, and was more interested in strategic creative hacks. “I’m sure that you’re trying to challenge yourself to invent something new, trying to be avant-garde,” he told an audience at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. “Basically, that’s impossible. These are things that I’ve figured out through working. As designers and artists we exist as a result of the many iterations before us, and we’re collectively trekking in the same direction.”

The anti-artist and dada pioneer Marcel Duchamp was a major artistic touchstone for Abloh, who went so far as to call him his “lawyer” when pressed on accusations of over-borrowing. Other formative influences included architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Rem Koolhaas, as well as fashion designers Raf Simons and James Jebbia.

Virgil Abloh FAQ