Tortured By Fashion - Cured With Style
"VIRGIL"
" Question Everything ", a sea of flags told me at the entrance to a Milanese art gallery on 30th November 2018.
Bold as they were, it was no surprise that the phrase and inverted commas were digitally scribed by none other than Virgil Abloh himself. These grammatical characters now belong to his legacy; marking any word within them to be recognized as his brand, even if it's splattered on a $3,000 handbag or pair of sneakers.
If you are drawing blanks and have not been exposed to the Virgil effect, allow me to introduce him. In short, he grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he studied civil engineering then architecture, became a professional DJ and founded brands Pyrex Vision and Off White. The famous quotation marks are synonymous with his Off White collections and have defined the designer's trademark. Virgil's greatest achievement thus far is being appointed menswear artistic director at Louis Vuitton where he brings a fresh and unpretentious approach.
Commenting on his appointment Virgil said;
“Hey I can use their logo and not get sued... that's awesome."
He is famous for embodying "streetwear as a global art movement", as Off White collaborations with brands like Nike and Ikea are the epitome of 'cool' and 'millennial', similarly in his democratized collection at house of Vuitton.
Knowing this, myself and other eager press shuffled into the gallery for a private talk and viewing of Kaleidoscope's Fall/Winter issue launch and the guest of honor unveiling a new photo-story, art installation, billboard commission and limited-edition collectors items.
Without warning, Virgil appears dressed in casual jeans and a paisley sweatshirt (probably the first LV artistic director to wear such a thing), and man hugs the host with the swagger of a famous rap star.
He jumps straight into talking about his creative journey and worldly views with the greatest eloquence and intellect. He repeats, we need to "Question Everything" and how this freed him to challenge the separation of luxury and streetwear by aspiring to a new term, relevance.
Virgil also dived into his philosophy of the "tourist and the purist", which are two audiences he aims to fuel by creating art. He provokes the thoughts of those "well-versed within art, but also to the outside public, those that may be coming across art for the very first time". His talk at Havard explained similar concepts, giving the advice to students to create with a purpose.
The phenomenon of streetwear has grown exponentially with brands like Supreme and Off-White and online destinations like Hypebeast, feeding the youth culture with trendy clothing, shoes and accessories. The "new renaissance", as Virgil calls it, is breaking the barrier between couture fantasy and ordinary life.
But Virigil's ability to speak to the masses through coveted fashion pieces was not always on the cards for him. In an interview with Naomi Campbell for British Vogue, Virgil said his Ghanaian father wanted a son who was an engineer. He explained to him, "That's the least I [could] do, for you making that strive from a third world country, your going to get a son that's an engineer”.
His relatability, work ethic and aspiration to beat the odds (in becoming the first African-American as artistic director at LV) has awarded him the huge following he has today. Best friend and creative partner, Kanye West, and community of famous pals such as Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner, also hype up the designer online in his projects and collaborations. His strong fandom was definitely evident in the 300+ crowd waiting outside the gallery, in the freezing cold, armed with Nike x Off White shoes to be graced with the c/o "Virgil" signature.
I can't wait to see what's next for this talented man.
Pictures taken from Kaleidoscope Magazine
