Abloh was raised in Rockford, where he attended Boylan Catholic High School, graduating in 1998. His mother was a seamstress and his father managed a paint company. Virgil Abloh was born on September 30, 1980, in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian immigrant parents. According to The Wall Street Journal, he reached a level of global fame unusual for a designer, and as an inspirational figure, according to the BBC. Abloh's design aesthetic which bridged streetwear and luxury clothing was described as transformative by The New York Times. The first African-American to be artistic director at a French luxury fashion house when he joined LVMH in 2018, Abloh was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world that year. Abloh assumed the role of Creative Director at Donda, West's creative agency in 2010. Ī trained architect, Abloh, who also worked in Chicago street fashion, entered the world of international fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009, alongside American rapper Kanye West. Abloh was also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection beginning in 2018, and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021. One of the most influential and respected fashion designers of his generation, he began his own line of luxury streetwear clothing, Pyrex Vision, in 2012, and became the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013. Virgil Abloh ( / ˈ æ b l oʊ/ Septem– November 28, 2021) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur.

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