On November 1, 2018, Virgil Abloh was appointed as Creative Director of Louis Vuitton. This marks the first time a new Creative Director has been selected for the fashion house since Yves Saint Laurent’s death in 2008, and it marks a significant shift in the focus of the brand. In 2017, chief executive officer Michael Burke explained the decision to expand the stature of the brand’s luxury rather than imitating the offerings of mass market retailers: “[W]e [had] come to the conclusion that for the brand to grow and become a top four luxury brand, we are going to have to open for business more in the areas of strategy and delivery and not just in the areas of product.”
Since October 2018, Virgil Abloh has been placed on the advisory board of São Paulo’s Great Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum, which hosts exhibitions from New York, London, Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo, as well as creative and cultural events including conversations between current and former world leaders, has nominated Abloh as the 2018 International Ambassador, a position that sees him become an advocate for cultural diversity.
As part of his role, Abloh will represent the museum at events and discuss modern art.
Virgil Abloh is a globe-trotting fashion designer who blends streetwear and designer’s ideas, and has become an influence on the industry’s budding talent. Upon the news of his appointment, Karl Lagerfeld, French fashion house Chanel’s creative director and a legend in the industry, wrote an Instagram post praising the designer as “the ‘human’ side of the New Male Fashion.”
Virgil Abloh creates avant-garde clothes and statements for the fans he represents. His pieces have included anything from tapered form-fitting hoodies that hang off the back of simple sweaters and socks to a Dior messenger bag created out of a Toyota Corolla. Before you can print them out, however, Abloh is running out of material. In recent years, with designers including Phoebe Philo, Miuccia Prada, and Christopher Kane, it has become increasingly difficult to find clothes that no one can replicate. We asked Virgil Abloh for an update on the future of streetwear.
The question was first posed at the Kent and Curwen show as he described the gear that’s regularly in demand.
“We are interested in the best things in the world and you can see that when you look at it. I think the most luxurious things in the world are able to mix very well with the outerwear and the trench coats or things like that.”