Virgil Abloh's Legacy

By: Ashley Ankapong

Virgil Abloh made his mark on the world as a trailblazing designer. He was the CEO of Off-White, a clothing brand that started in 2012 and he became the artistic director for Louis Vuitton in 2018.

Abloh died on Nov. 28 from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare aggressive form of cancer, according to an Instagram post on his account. He has been battling this rare form of cancer for two years and chose to keep his illness private.

Born in Chicago, Abloh was raised by Ghanian immigrants in the suburbs. He received his degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, according to Business of Fashion.

Abloh got started in the fashion industry in 2006 while he was a graduate student at Illinois Institute of Technology. Along with Kanye West, they both became interns at Fendi in 2009, according to Vogue.

Abloh has made lots of iconic collaborations during his years in the fashion industry, according to Hypebeast. This includes his shoe collaboration with Nike bringing “The Ten,” and his collaboration with Chrome Hearts, designing a neon orange hoodie.

Junior information science major D’Angelo Logan thinks Abloh’s various art pieces showed off his versatility and creativity and believed he was a true innovator at heart, calling him “a modern day Givenchy.”

“In my opinion, this aspect of Virgil will influence the next wave of designers in the future,” said Logan.

Abloh also had a keen interest in the music industry. He was also known for designing album art for Kanye West, Asap Rocky and Lil Uzi Vert, and he was a DJ in his free time.

“There are very few black artists and businessmen that have an impact like Virgil,” said junior computer science major Mory Diaby. “The world needs black creativity and losing one of them is like losing chunks of black culture.”