Last Updated on February 27, 2024
Who was Virgil Abloh?
Virgil Abloh was an American designer, entrepreneur, and DJ. he was listed by Time magazine as one of the most influential people in the world in 2018. Abloh was the founder of Milan-based fashion house, Off-White, a label that unites the concept of luxury wear and street fashion.
Abloh served as an artistic director at Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear collection for over three years. Consequently, he became the first African-American to serve as artistic director at a French luxury fashion house. He was formerly a creative director of Kanye West’s label, Donda.
His achievements in design and significant success in expanding the world’s view of streetwear established him as one of the best modern designers of our time.
Quick Facts
Full Name: | Virgil Abloh |
Popular Name: | Virgil Abloh |
Gender: | Male |
Birth Date: | September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021 |
Age: | 41 (Late) |
Parents: | Nee Abloh, Eunice Abloh |
Siblings: | Edwina Abloh |
Birth Place: | Rockford, Illinois |
Nationality: | Ghanaian, American |
Ethnicity: | African-American |
Education: | Boylan Catholic School, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Illinois Institute of Technology |
Marital Status: | Married |
Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
Wife/Spouse: | Shannon Abloh |
Children: | Grey Abloh, Lowe Abloh |
Dating: | N/A |
Net Worth: | $100 Million |
Source of Wealth: | Fashion Design, Entrepreneur, Disc Jockey |
Height: | 6ft2 (1.88m) |
Weight: | 78kg (172lbs) |
Early Life and Career Information
Virgil was born in the vibrant city of Rockford, Illinois, to Eunice Abloh, a seamstress, and Nee Abloh, a manager of a paint company. His parents had immigrated from Ghana many years before. He graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in 1998 and attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he got his degree in civil engineering.
In 2006, he got his Masters in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). During his postgraduate studies, his interest in fashion was roused due to a building on campus designed by the architect Rem Koolhaas.
Meanwhile, Abloh designed T-shirts and wrote on fashion and design for a notable blog at that period. He first met famous musician Kanye West with whom he would form a long partnership and friendship while working on his designs at a print shop in Chicago.
Abloh interned at Fendi in 2009 with rap artist, Kanye West, where they were placed in the company’s Rome, Italy branch. While working at Fendi, he caught the attention of the CEO of Louis Vuitton, Michael Burke. Subsequently, Abloh opened a retail outlet with West’s creative partner Don C, called the RSVP Gallery, located in Chicago.
Their newly opened store became noted for providing a variety of fashion apparel and reflecting Abloh’s style in the store’s interior design. In 2010, the designer was named creative director of West’s creative agency, DONDA.
The following year, West invited him to be the artistic director for his collaborative album with Jay Z, Watch the Throne, released in 2011.
In 2012, Abloh established his first company, Pyrex Vision. He bought deadstock Ralph Lauren clothing for $40, screen-printed designs on them, and sold them for up to $550. He shut down the company the year after because he did not intend it to be a commercial venture but rather an artistic experiment.
Abloh founded Off-White, a multi-platform creative endeavor based in Milan, Italy, in 2013. He described the brand to investors as “the gray area between black and white as the color Off-White.” From the start, hovering quotation marks became Abloh’s signature.
A year later, the streetwear designer launched womenswear for Off-White and began to show his men’s and women’s collections during the Paris Fashion Week.
In 2015, Abloh’s womenswear operation gained steam when Beyoncé was spotted wearing a palm-print sweatshirt with the word Nebraska on it. This paid homage to Raf Simons’s Fall 2002 Virginia Creepers collection, in Nicki Minaj‘s video for “Feeling Myself.
His brand was named a finalist for the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) Prize in the same year. He lost the grand and special prizes to Marques’Almeida and Jacquemus, respectively.
Off-White collaborated with Nike to launch called “The Ten” in 2017. Abloh also partnered with Ikea, designing furniture and tote bags. In addition, he launched a line of luggage with Rimowa.
In 2018, Abloh was made the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, making him the first person of African heritage to hold that position and one of the few black designers made an executive of a major French fashion house.
The same year, Abloh worked with Takashi Murakami on a series of exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery branches. He also released his first single, “Orvnge,” with German DJ/producer, Boys Noize.
In 2019, he had his first solo art exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. After that, he was appointed as a member of the board of directors of The Council of Fashion Designers of America. Subsequently, Abloh was named the resident DJ at Wynn Las Vegas’s XS Nightclub, with Wynn also agreeing to open an Off-White store.
In July 2021, LVMH became the parent company of Off-White with the acquisition of a 60% stake in the label, with Abloh retaining 40% of its stake. He was also promoted due to the acquisition to a position where he could work across many LVMH product categories.
Sadly, in November of the same year, Abloh passed away after a battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
Virgil Abloh’s Net Worth
Despite being known primarily for his exploits in fashion design, Abloh was an astute entrepreneur and a successful DJ. His earnings stem mainly from his career as a designer and various collaborations and endorsements in music and business.
Although he passed away in November 2021, Abloh’s impressive achievements remain. His net worth is estimated to be a whopping $100 million.
Lessons from the Life of Virgil Abloh
Don’t Be Afraid to Try
While he was alive, Abloh was unafraid to try. He had no idea his life would be short, but he lived as if he knew. He experimented and went for his desires with passion. Why don’t you do the same? Plan, but don’t overthink.
Give Love in Everything
Abloh never forgot his community and where he grew up. He gave black creators the opportunities he lacked and donated to many causes. You don’t have to have a lot to offer, but a little goes a long way.