Virgil Abloh dies at age 41
BY CADY LANG
The contemporary fashion landscape owes much of its sensibility to the relentless creativity of Virgil Abloh. The designer, who died from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, at the age of 41 on Nov. 28 in Chicago, was often hailed as the future of fashion, but there was no denying that his work profoundly shaped the present.
As the founder of the cult brand Off-White and the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear division, Abloh, a first-generation Ghanaian American, was a trailblazing, outsized figure in the fashion industry—but his influence stretched far beyond the world of clothes.
Abloh’s creative pursuits spanned mediums and defied easy definition; he began sewing as a young boy with his seamstress mother, foreshadowing his future in fashion; he studied civil engineering and received a master’s degree in architecture; he was a renowned DJ on the international party circuit; he was a creative director and close collaborator of Kanye West, helping to create some of the most iconic imagery in music for the past two decades; he made furniture and held exhibits in major museums.
The contemporary fashion landscape owes much of its sensibility to the relentless creativity of Virgil Abloh. The designer, who died from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, at the age of 41 on Nov. 28 in Chicago, was often hailed as the future of fashion, but there was no denying that his work profoundly shaped the present.
As the founder of the cult brand Off-White and the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear division, Abloh, a first-generation Ghanaian American, was a trailblazing, outsized figure in the fashion industry—but his influence stretched far beyond the world of clothes.
Abloh’s creative pursuits spanned mediums and defied easy definition; he began sewing as a young boy with his seamstress mother, foreshadowing his future in fashion; he studied civil engineering and received a master’s degree in architecture; he was a renowned DJ on the international party circuit; he was a creative director and close collaborator of Kanye West, helping to create some of the most iconic imagery in music for the past two decades; he made furniture and held exhibits in major museums.
Leave a comment