Virgil Abloh is an anomaly.

He went from screen printing Kanye's shirts, to building his own 8-figure $ brand and becoming Louis Vuitton's Artistic Director.

This is a story about his rise, the struggles of being black in America, + paving the way for black artists.

Some context.

It's 2013. *That* Kanye interview with Sway.

The one where he said:

“HOW SWAY?! YOU DON’T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS… IT AINT RALPH!”

You could hear the anger in his voice, the frustration of a black man trying to create art in a world governed by white men...

The fashion ecosystem has long been controlled by (white) aristocrats.

From retailers (BarneysNY), to editorial (GQ), to design houses (Louis Vuitton).

Ye was speaking from his struggle to penetrate the “old guard” of fashion.

That interview signaled a turning point.

We obviously know how things turned out.

Kanye’s influence the last decade is everywhere, specifically within streetwear via Adidas (Yeezy), and the now The Gap.

He’s also propped up countless artists from under his wing during his DONDA days, like Jerry Lorenzo (Fear of God), Matthew Williams (Givenchy), Heron Preston, and…

Virgil Abloh.

Out of all Kanye’s understudies, Virgil is the most fascinating.

He’s challenged every norm in a white man’s world.

In 15 years, it’s incredible to look back on how he's paving the way for other black artists to step into positions of power.

I think he’s just getting started.

He’s the son of Ghanian immigrants, raised in Illinois.

Growing up, his mom told him, “you don’t buy clothes, you make clothes.”

What a telling foreshadow of who he’d become:

A creator.

After graduating w/ two college degrees, he focused on graffiti art, DJ'ing, and designing t-shirts.

Virgil also used to work for a local screen printing shop in Chicago.

GOOD Music (Kanye’s label) was a client, and they used that shop to print their concert merch.

One day...

Virgil (purposefully) left a few shirt designs behind for Kanye.

Ye loved em’ and offered Virgil the opportunity to work more closely with him.

This catalyzed Virgil’s career.

Association w/ Mr. West at that time built the kind of brand equity that any creative dreamt about.

He steadily rose through the ranks at DONDA (Kanye’s design company), effectively becoming his right-hand-man.

People close to DONDA also joked that Kanye cloned Virgil so he could be in two places at once.

They just clicked.

Working with Kanye, he also felt Kanye's struggles, watching him navigate uncharted territory with corporations like Nike, who were hesitant to offer a black man with no formal design “training” or “credentials” the keys to the creative department.

Black artists like P-Diddy (Sean John) and Jay-Z (Rocawear) had also tried building their own fashion brands, each one fading into brand abyss.

Kanye and Virgil were poised to do things differently. They wanted a breakthrough. Bad.

Virgil gained valuable experiences working alongside Kanye, but he had his own visions to execute too.

From collab’ing with Colette in 2008, flying to Paris with Kanye in 2009 for Fashion Week, and landing a design internship at Fendi in Rome, Virgil's credibility was growing.

Eventually, he stepped out on his own.

He launched Pyrex as a nod to black aspiration in America.

His first two designs were taking discounted Ralph Lauren flannels and Champion sweats and designing on top of them.

It was an ironic, controversial, brilliant experiment.

700% markups on cheap-priced goods pissed a lot of people off.

And the products still sold out.

Part of this had to do with Virgil’s deep network.

Proximity to Kanye helped him gain access to some of the most influential folks in music and entertainment, from Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, to the Kardashians.

But Virgil knew if he wanted to compete on a design level with the luxury brands of Europe, he had to start as a luxury brand from the outset.

So, he sun-setted Pyrex as a brand, and in 2012, he launched OFF-WHITE as a design company.

He wanted OFF-WHITE to transcend racial + societal barriers that were tight-gripped by older generations.

OFF-WHITE is an experiment. It touches everything from fashion and art, to music and architecture.

It’s the “grey space between black and white”, another piece of racial commentary of a black man forging his path in a business world dominated by white men.

Here was his first collection:

After a few seasons, he found his rhythm.

The 2010s were his decade, forming alliances with the most important brands and celebrities globally.

This only boosted his personal and professional brand.

Travel, languages, art, design, music, this is where Virgil draws his muse from.

He's known now for his key partnerships. Here’s a look at some of the areas Virgil has touched in less than ten years:

1/ RIMOWA
2/ IKEA - "FOR THE MILLENNIALS"
3/ NIKE - THE TEN

In 2018, Louis Vuitton appointed Virgil as its Artistic Director, becoming the first black person to lead a global luxury fashion brand.

Who appointed him?

CEO, Michael Burke (whom he met when he interned at Fendi).

I’m sure Virgil’s had plenty of “pinch me” moments, where he recalled a time when “we weren’t supposed to be there”—a nod to his trip to Paris in 2009 with Kanye, both seen as outsiders.

That trip was a turning point for them both.

Virgil’s work symbolizes deconstruction.

He's forced us to look at the old structures + racial prejudices that have dominated western society, and question why they’re there at all.

If we're going to push equitability for everyone in this country, we have much work to do.