Tikitakas Virgil Abloh, designer of Louis Vuitton and Off-White, dies at 41
The fashion industry is mourning the passing of designer Virgil Abloh, who founded the Off-White brand and served as creative director of Louis Vuitton's men's collection since 2018.
The French fashion house announced on November 28 that the famous 41-year-old designer died after a two-year battle with cancer. Abloh had been privately battling cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer.
Abloh was married to Shannon Sundberg, with whom he had two children, Lowe and Gray.
Virgil Abloh: Career
Virgil Abloh was born on September 30, 1980, in Rockford, Illinois, to a Ghanaian immigrant couple. Abloh attended Boylan Catholic High School and graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. In 2006, he received a Master of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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In 2009 he interned at Fendi, where he began a collaborative relationship with Kanye West, who in 2010 named Abloh creative director of his creative agency, DONDA. In 2011, West asked him to be the artistic director for the Watch the Throne album along with Jay-Z.
In 2012, Abloh launched his first company, Pyrex Vision, a small streetwear couture boutique. Abloh would buy $40 off-price Ralph Lauren clothes, print his designs on them, and then sell them for prices above $550. A year later, he closed the company as he did not have a commercial intention, but an artistic one.
In 2013, he founded his first fashion house with the luxury streetwear brand, Off-White, based in Milan, Italy. In 2014 he launched a women's clothing line, which was selected as a finalist for the LVMH award.
In March 2018, Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton's men's ready-to-wear line, becoming the first person of African descent to lead the men's line and also one of the few black designers to hold a position in a major French fashion house.
He has also collaborated with Nike, IKEA, conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, and Planned Parenthood.
