Virgil Abloh Biography

Virgil Abloh is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur, DJ, and artist. Currently he works as a designer for Louis Vuitton. He is also the chief-executive officer of his brand “Off White”. He is married to Shannon Sundberg and lives with his two children in Chicago.

He was born on 30 September, 1980 to Ghanaian immigrant parents. His mother was a seamstress and father managed a paint company. Abloh was raised in Rockford Illinois and got his bachelors degree in civil engineering. After that he studied architecture in Illinois Institute of Technology. When he was a student, he designed t-shirts and wrote on fashion and design for a well-known blog.

Abloh interned at Fendi with Kanye West after graduating from college. The two began collaborative efforts. After a year, West appointed Abloh as the creative director of DONDA– his creative agency. In 2012, Abloh was nominated for a Grammy as an art director for the album ‘Watch the Throne’. The same year he launched his first company and called it Pyrex Vision. Abloh used to purchase deadstock clothing from Ralph Lauren, print designs on them and sell them for higher prices. The aim of the company was to represent the importance of youth culture.

Abloh founded his first fashion house ‘Off White’ in Milan. He combined ideas of streetwear, luxury, art, music, and travel. After menswear, Off White has expanded in the womenswear space and in 2016 the company also started ‘Grey Area’ which debuts Abloh’s furniture line. He has also partnered with Nike for the sneaker line ‘The Ten’. In 2018, Abloh was named the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, and succeeded Kim Jones, his mentor. This appointment was seen as a new beginning by an industry that had long struggled to face its racism. Abloh was cheered as a pioneer and a symbol of progress and held up as a role model. He continues to work in the fashion industry in his capacity as a designer and entrepreneur today.

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