American Fashion Designer And Off White Founder Virgil Abloh Dies At Age 41
American Fashion Designer And Off White Founder Virgil Abloh Dies At Age 41. LVMH released a statement on Twitter yesterday announcing that fashion designer and founder of Off White, Virgil Abloh has passed away. Abloh died due to cancer, which he had been battling for years.
The post read, “LVMH, Louis Vuitton and Off White are devastated to announce the passing of Virgil Abloh, on Sunday, November 28th, of cancer, which he had been battling privately for several years.” Abloh was the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2012. He was also the first Black person to be 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. “We are all shocked after these terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius fashion designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom. The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother or their friend.” LVMH Chief Executive, Bernard Arnault said in a statement.
Abloh received his first major award in 2011 when his work designing the cover art for American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album Watch the Throne was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. In 2018, Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear ready wear line, making him the first person of African descent to lead the brand’s menswear line, as well as one of the few black designers at the helm of a major French fashion house.
In July 2021, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced it would be taking a 60% stake in Off-White, with founder Abloh, then the creative director of menswear for Louis Vuitton, retaining the remaining 40%. A lot of condolences and tributes came in for Abloh as he was an important figure in the fashion industry that inspired a lot of people through his work and impact.
