Virgil Abloh is the founder of the famous designer brand Off-White
Virgil won the ‘International Designer of the Year Award’ at the GQ Men of the Year Awards
He is the first American of African descent to be an artistic director at a French luxury fashion house
Late Ghanaian-American, Virgil Abloh, is a fashion designer, artist, and DJ known for being influential in the fashion industry.
He rubbed shoulders with big brands like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Channel, among others.
On November 28, Virgil died from cancer in an announcement shared on Twitter and on Instagram.
He was born in Rockford, Illinois in the USA to Ghanaian immigrant parents from the Volta region. He earned a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and obtained a master’s degree in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Below are four iconic things about the fashion designer GhanaWeb has put together:
He owned the fashion brand Off-White
Virgil was the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2012 and was also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton in 2018. His brand rubbed shoulders with brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Channel and all the big names you can think of.
Virgil entered the world of international fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009 alongside American rapper Kanye West. The two undertook an artistic collaboration that launched Abloh’s career into launching Off-White.
He won ‘Designer of the Year Award’ at the GQ Men of the Year Awards
kaikaikiki.com reports in 2017, Virgil Abloh won the International Designer of the Year Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards. Additionally, Virgil Abloh’s Nike “The Ten” Air Jordan 1 won Shoe of the Year at the FN Achievement Awards. Lastly, Virgil Abloh won the Urban Luxe Brand Award at The British Fashion Awards.
He was the first American of African descent to be an artistic director at a French luxury fashion house. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
Remembering his roots
Virgil Abloh on some of his shows sometimes made sure to embed and pay tribute to his Ghanaian heritage on different platforms and such many platforms were the Paris Fashion Week 2021. Highlights from some of his shows were epic.
He also on the same showcased the Ghana flag in some of his designs also paid a colourful tribute to Michael Jackson as the music and clothes all included colourful references to the beloved pop icon.
The strong emphasis on Ghana in the outfits caught the attention of the audience. Below are some of the Ghanaian infused looks from Abloh’s Fall 2019 collection for Louis Vuitton.
Virgil released limited-edition T-shirts to support Ghana’s first skatepark
Off-White™ produced limited edition t-shirts trademarked ‘Product Of Ghana’, a collaboration between the powerhouses Daily Paper x Off-White™ to support the creation of Ghana’s first skatepark ‘Freedom Skate Park’ in Accra, Ghana.
The exclusive collection made its global release on Friday, January 15, 2021, on dailypaperclothing.com and 100% of the sales from the collaboration donated towards the construction of the skatepark.
