Off White´s founder and is the new creative director at Louis Vuitton men’s line, after Kim Jones departure. If you still do not know this golden fashion star, at Le Banana we tell you why you should.
Virgil´s gray matter
The DJ and Off White´s founder and CEO was born in Chicago. The designer is actually a Civil Engineer and has a master’s degree in Architecture, like Raf Simons. The name of the brand doesnt make reference to the colour itself, but it´s a symbol for the brain color. Between white and gray, it is a conceptual way of defining its streetwear brand as “high-minded design”.
The faithful friend of Kanye
Virgil and Kanye West have been working together for more than 10 years. In 2006, before collaborating in the rapper’s clothing line, they both did an internship at Fendi Rome to understand the clothing process. Then, Abloh became fully involved with Kanye in designing Kanye´s clothing line, in the graphic development of his records, his tour costumes and his merchandising.
Everyone wants a little piece of Off-White
With an aesthetic education based on urban culture, skaters and hip-hop, Virgil starts thinking about luxury from this starting point instead of the other way round as other maisons. From there, the Chicago born designer mixes influences from his favorite creators, such as Margiela and Ralph Lauren. His brand and identity is so strong that brands like Nike, Jimmy Choo, IKEA, Champion and Timberland have chosen him to make collabs with them.
African representation
Virgil Abloh was born in Chicago but his parents are originally from Ghana, West Africa. The multidisciplinary designer not only changes paradigms in terms of street and sportswear but he will be the first African-American to run Louis Vuitton. Other similar cases are those of Olivier Rousteing, at Balmain and Ozwald Boateng, at Givenchy Homme.
The designer already has friends and rappers´ support such as Rihanna, Drake, Kanye West, Jay Z and A$AP Rocky, among others, who can be spotted down the streets or in the front row using Abloh´s streetwear outfits. Therefore, we are looking forward to see his debut at LV in June at the Men’s Fashion Week, in Paris and who will be the inlfuencers representing the line under his direction.
Stay Alert with Virgil!