One of the most influential names in fashion, you don’t need to be a sneakerhead to have noticed the impact of the late great Virgil Abloh. With his iconic label, Off-White, releasing a new collab on the Air Force 1 Mids this week, we figured we’d take a look through Virgil’s career and impact on the sneakers and streetwear.
Illinois, Architecture, and Kanye
Virgil grew up in Illinois, born into a family of Ghanaian immigrants. Eventually, Virgil followed in his father’s footsteps in engineering and became an Architect, gaining a Master’s from the Illinois Institute of Technology. This knowledge went on to influence his utilitarian aesthetic throughout his career
Virgil always had an interest in fashion, including the streetwear culture of the 2000s. He also loved high fashion like Louis Vuitton, which led him to cross paths with another Illinois icon, Kanye West. Virgil worked as a creative director behind Kanye’s media company, Donda, and in 2012 he launched Pyrex Vision. Half fashion label, half artistic experiment, Pyrex took deadstock Ralph Lauren pieces and printed his own designs on them, selling them for hundreds of dollars. Never intended to be a lasting business venture, Virgil closed Pyrex within a year.
Off-White
In 2013, Virgil moved to Milan for his new label, Off-White. Based on Virgil’s utilitarian aesthetics, Off-White became recognisable for its recurring motifs of harsh diagonal lines on solid backgrounds, inspired by construction hazard barriers.
Beyond utilitarianism, the main aim of Off-White was an elevated take on streetwear. In a 2016 interview with Business of Fashion, Virgil said: “In a large part streetwear is seen as cheap. What my goal has been is to add an intellectual layer to it and make it credible”. Not only has Off-White become Virgil’s most recognisable venture, but one of the biggest streetwear labels out there, even beating Gucci in sales in 2018.
Nike, The Ten, and Louis Vuitton
Off-White has had a number of collaborations since its inception, but of course, for sneakerheads, their Nike collab is the most recognisable. In 2017 the duo started their series, The Ten, which featured Nike bestsellers rendered with Virgil’s now-famous postmodern details like the quotations and zip ties. The series made its debut with the Jordan 1 High OG Chicago, which is currently reselling at upwards of €10,000. After The Ten, Off-White has continued to drop their takes on famous Nike silhouettes and has become one of Nike’s most recognisable collaborators.
Of course, we can’t talk about Virgil’s impact without Louis Vuitton. In 2014 Off-White’s womenswear collection placed Virgil as a finalist for the LVMH prize. The artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear line, Kim Jones had previously been a mentor figure for Virgil, particularly in terms of blending streetwear and luxury fashion. Finally, in 2018 Virgil took over as artistic director himself when Jones moved to Dior Homme. With Virgil being the first designer of African descent to take on the role, this was a historic moment.
The Future of Off-White
Since Virgil’s passing in November 2021, Off-White has continued to celebrate his legacy through posthumous releases of his designs, including Nike collabs like the Blazer lows and the new Air Force 1 Mids. As for the label itself, Ib Kamara has since taken on the role of Off-White’s art and image director. In addition to his role as editor-in-chief at Dazed, Kamara had previously styled a number of Off-White shows.
Louis Vuitton has also posthumously released Virgil’s collections, most recently his Pre-Fall/Winter 22 collection. They are also releasing Air Force 1s designed by Virgil, featuring his iconic quotations. Louis Vuitton describes the AF1 as “a symbol of the streetwear community that raised [Virgil]” with their collection of 47 colourways described as “an object d’art symbolic of subculture”.
It’s not just through ongoing releases but through enduring designs that Virgil’s influence is felt. Whether on his own label or in his collaborations, he possessed an eclectic lens of postmodernism and utilitarianism that he made unmistakably his own. It is this identity that has helped him become one of the most recognisable figures in elevated streetwear.
