Designer Spotlight: Virgil Abloh

Designer Spotlight: Virgil Abloh

Introduction

Virgil Abloh has influenced and changed the whole fashion industry significantly within the last ten. years. He has overcome so much and achieved so much in his lifetime that it is hard to find a more impressive resume. Just following his work over the past five years has been extremely impressive and motivational.

Early Career

Virgil Abloh began his career after graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology as an architect major. He believed that if he could design a building he could design anything and he was correct. He got his first internship at Fendi and managed to get a gig working alongside Kanye West. The time he spent with Kanye really skyrocketed his career as they began an artistic collaboration of design, production and music. 

Off-White

Virgil founded the Milan based clothing brand many of you know today as "Off-White" in 2013. He. quickly took over the market and Off-White took off. His branding was interesting. It involved the use of quotation marks around obvious phrases along with zip ties and variances of barricade tape. It was this branding that got him his biggest deal with Nike in 2017 where he was able to go back and make his own renditions of some of Nike's most famous shoes.

Notable Off-White Collaborations

• Nike
• IKEA
• Undercover

Louis Vuitton

In 2018 Virgil took the streetwear game to the highest level, he was named head artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear line. This was an incredible moment due to him being the first African American head director at Louis Vuitton ever. Since then he has done nothing but implement concepts and ideas from the streetwear world into the high fashion world. Virgil is, simply put, incredible.

Personal Take

I personally have multiple piece of Virgil's pieces including 5 pairs of his Off-White collaboration with Nike. I do not have as much of his clothing due to personal taste and the overall cost of some of his products but I do have one of his hoodies and hav owned multiple pairs of his denim. Virgil is truly inspirational and he has a lot more to offer in the future.