Virgil Abloh was an American designer, architect, and artist. He is most famously known for his fashion design endeavors in his fashion brand Off-White, and his role as the creative director of Louis Vuitton. He was born in Illinois in 1980. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He went on to start his first clothing line under the name Pyrex Vision in 2012, which saw success in the streetwear scene.
Pyrex Vision Spring/Summer 2013
In 2013, he rebranded Pyrex to the hugely popular high-end streetwear brand Off-White. Off-White was a brand based in Milan, which as Virgil described as “the gray area between black and white”. Off-White went on to achieve mainstream success in the years 2013-2018, opening stores in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, and many more. In 2018, Off-White was regarded as the hottest brand in the world, surpassing the likes of Gucci.
Off-White Spring/Summer 2022
In 2018 he was chosen to be the artistic/creative director for the Louis Vuitton menswear line. His innovations at Louis Vuitton hugely boosted the brand’s popularity in the streetwear scene, and extended its reach to a younger audience.
He passed away in November 2021 due to cancer, but his influence in the fashion and streetwear scene remains strong.
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Hi Ali,
This was a very informative post, it was great learning about Virgil Abloh’s work and influence. I found it interesting how he has both an engineering and architecture degree. It actually reminds me of this class somewhat in that we are also engineers trying to create unique aesthetics. Do you think there are any other parallel between Abloh’s background that this class?
Hi Alexander,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, definitely, he discovered his passion for design sometime during his architecture studies. He was also able to utilize his engineering background to his advantage even when it came to art and fashion.
I enjoyed learning more about Virgil Abloh through your post. It is fascinating that he was able to influence street wear and work as a creative director for Louis Vuitton. Where you able to tell the difference in Louis Vuitton menswear line once he became a creative director?
Hi Hannah,
I’m glad you enjoyed my post. Yes, I would say so, he definitely had a big influence on the products made by the brand since his hire, and he had a very distinct style when it came to his works.