“I believed that designers didn’t look like me.”
A fashion visionary, and the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh has died of cancer at the age 41. This is his story.
A fashion visionary, and the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh has died of cancer at the age 41. This is his story.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00I still, to this day, am reluctant to call myself a designer, because I believe that designers didn't look like me.
00:06I see the term streetwear as more of a catchphrase to define a way of making than what people
00:34might determine it as a style of clothing.
00:45My parents are from Ghana and West Africa.
00:48My background was almost in a way opposite of the designers or icons that I looked up
00:56to, but I wanted to see myself in it.
01:02I grew up printing my own t-shirts and giving them to friends or the local skate things,
01:07and then that era was dead.
01:22As an architecture student, I had a professor that said I didn't have the pedigree or ideas
01:28or skill set to work in any sort of important context.
01:31So every no is perfect for me.
01:34I thrive off a no.
01:54I'm fortunate to have Kanye as a friend and a mentor.
02:24The aha moment was like, wait, I can just put work out and if it's good, it works.
02:42If it's bad, no one notices and I can just get better at it.
02:54Pyrex Vision was sort of our early phase of making art.
03:24I'm feeling myself.
03:38I'm feeling myself.
03:54As a creative person, that's not just one thing.
04:02I'm inspired by all forms of contemporary art and pop culture.
04:06So music and fashion and art, they're all linked, so I decided to participate in them all.
04:24It's great.
04:30I'm honored.
04:31It's an amazing system of brands and it's an amazing heritage that I'm happy to participate
04:39in.
04:47Right now, I'm only interested in editing something 3% from its original form.
04:52I'm basically tired.
04:54I might be too old.
05:03Pressure makes diamonds.
05:05You know, it makes great things.
05:06So I embrace the pressure.
05:08You know, it doesn't really have an adverse effect.
05:11It sort of fuels ideas.
05:32Virgil, he's one of the best designers doing it right now.
05:34So, you know, we got to support him.
05:36I'm fortunate to be, like, have a great network of, you know, what I believe are the next
05:42generation of, you know, models of our time.
05:56You can't talk about streetwear, specifically luxury streetwear, without mentioning the
06:01name Virgil Abloh.
06:02It's impossible.
06:03His footprint on the fashion industry, you know, is absolutely incredible and remarkable.