Famous menswear designer for Louis Vuitton and founder and CEO of Off-White, Virgil Abloh died Sunday, 28 November 2021 after a private battle with cancer. He was 41. A post on his verified Instagram page made the news of his death public. It also revealed that he was diagnosed with the disease in 2019.
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To honor the late famous designer, we have compiled five interesting facts about him. See 5 interesting facts about Virgil Abloh below:
Early life of Virgil Abloh
Virgil Abloh was born on 30 September 1980, in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian immigrants. As a child, he picked interests in fashion designing and learned to sew from his mom, a seamstress. He studied engineering and graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. He furthered and received his Master of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2006.
During Abloh’s IT, a building on campus under construction was designed by the architect Rem Koolhaas (who had also worked on runway collections for Prada), and it renewed his fashion interests again. So, he started to design T-shirts while writing for The Brilliance — a well-known blog — on fashion and design.
Career
After his university education, Virgil Abloh interned at fashion house Fendi in the same class as rapper Kanye West in 2009. His relationship with Kanye blossomed, and he started working with the rapper and designer. Not long after, he worked with Louis Vuitton as the artistic director of menswear.
Then he joined a small group of Black designers working at such a high level in French design houses. But Abloh was already a known name before he joined Louis Vuitton.
In 2012, he founded his luxury streetwear label Off-White, which became successful with both celebrities and teenagers alike. However, this didn’t stop Abloh from collaborating with other fashion companies. Some fashion companies he has collaborated with include Nike, Jimmy Choo, Champion, and more.
Personal life
Abloh married his wife, Shannon, at the Four Seasons hotel in Chicago, Illinois, in 2009. She had been his childhood sweetheart after they met at senior school before moving to Wisconsin university for their higher education. The pair have two children together, Grey and Lowe Abloh.
Virgil Abloh – Illness and death
On Sunday, 28 November 2021, the fashion designer passed away at the age of 41, after a 2-year private battle with cancer. Abloh was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma, in 2019, which he kept secret.
Tributes
After the news of his death was announced, actors, musicians, authors, fashion brands, and many others have paid tribute to the legendary designer. Here are some of the tributes below:
Gucci tweeted, “he will be deeply missed though his vision will live on through the trails that he blazed throughout his career.”
Pharrell Williams shared a photo of the late designer on his Instagram page and wrote a heartfelt tribute.
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Hailey Bieber uploaded a photo of herself in the custom Off-White wedding dress designed by Abloh for her 2019 wedding to Justin Bieber.
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Sincere condolences to the family of Virgil Abloh from all of us at Sidomex Entertainment.
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