American designer, DJ and stylist Virgil Abloh came to prominence in 2012 as Kanye West's creative director. He has since made waves in the fashion world with his luxury streetwear label, Off-White.
Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois with Ghanaian heritage he received his Masters of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his undergraduate in Civil Engineering at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.
After working for an architecture firm for two years, Abloh shifted his focus to fashion. In 2009, he founded RSVP Gallery, an art gallery and menswear boutique in Chicago. That same year, he joined Kanye West's creative agency Donda as creative director, overseeing projects like stage shows and concert merchandise.
In 2012, Abloh launched his first fashion brand, Pyrex Vision, which controversially (albeit hugely successfully) screen-printed logos onto Champion t-shirts and dead stock Ralph Lauren rugby shirts. Alongside this, he collaborated with Matthew Williams and Heron Preston as part of a collective called Been Trill.
With Pyrex all but grinding to a halt in 2013 later that same year, Abloh launched luxury men’s and women’s streetwear label Off-White out of Milan, Italy. The brand was quickly picked up by leading stockist’s, and then had it’s reputation further enhanced when it started to be worn by the likes of Jay-Z, ASAP Rocky, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and more recently Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid.
The Off White collections saw a youthful approach to an urban wardrobe, with a high fashion edge, and became synonymous for their artistic prints to quality wardrobe staples. Offering a unique and signature touch with the iconic white stripe motif which is brash, loud, and instantly recognisable Off White has become a must have brand.
Manufacturing is based in Milan with a core value of the brand to be made from the best available and particular opinion regarding fabric, fit and fabrication. The results are a young brand embracing the now in a sophisticated manner.
In 2015, Off-White was an LVMH Prize finalist.
Alongside running Off-White and consulting, Abloh co-founded record label Bromance Records and DJ’s under the alias of Flat-White, for which he says is the only thing that gives him complete piece of mind, and something that he will be doing long after he has finished designing.
You can shop our great selection of Off-White clothing and accessories here at Cruise Fashion.
Pictures taken from Twitter @virgilabloh