The life of Virgil Abloh

Brut America

“I believed that designers didn’t look like me.”  A fashion visionary, and the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh has died of cancer at the age 41.  This is his story.

Transcript

00:00I still, to this day, am reluctant to call myself a designer, because I believe that designers didn't look like me.

00:06I see the term streetwear as more of a catchphrase to define a way of making than what people

00:34might determine it as a style of clothing.

00:45My parents are from Ghana and West Africa.

00:48My background was almost in a way opposite of the designers or icons that I looked up

00:56to, but I wanted to see myself in it.

01:02I grew up printing my own t-shirts and giving them to friends or the local skate things,

01:07and then that era was dead.

01:22As an architecture student, I had a professor that said I didn't have the pedigree or ideas

01:28or skill set to work in any sort of important context.

01:31So every no is perfect for me.

01:34I thrive off a no.

01:54I'm fortunate to have Kanye as a friend and a mentor.

02:24The aha moment was like, wait, I can just put work out and if it's good, it works.

02:42If it's bad, no one notices and I can just get better at it.

02:54Pyrex Vision was sort of our early phase of making art.

03:24I'm feeling myself.

03:38I'm feeling myself.

03:54As a creative person, that's not just one thing.

04:02I'm inspired by all forms of contemporary art and pop culture.

04:06So music and fashion and art, they're all linked, so I decided to participate in them all.

04:24It's great.

04:30I'm honored.

04:31It's an amazing system of brands and it's an amazing heritage that I'm happy to participate

04:39in.

04:47Right now, I'm only interested in editing something 3% from its original form.

04:52I'm basically tired.

04:54I might be too old.

05:03Pressure makes diamonds.

05:05You know, it makes great things.

05:06So I embrace the pressure.

05:08You know, it doesn't really have an adverse effect.

05:11It sort of fuels ideas.

05:32Virgil, he's one of the best designers doing it right now.

05:34So, you know, we got to support him.

05:36I'm fortunate to be, like, have a great network of, you know, what I believe are the next

05:42generation of, you know, models of our time.

05:56You can't talk about streetwear, specifically luxury streetwear, without mentioning the

06:01name Virgil Abloh.

06:02It's impossible.

06:03His footprint on the fashion industry, you know, is absolutely incredible and remarkable.

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