New generation of designers vow to continue Abloh’s legacy of leadership. ‘He was a lighthouse and a spirit guide.’
Designer Pierre Davis, wearing a dress, during New York Fashion Week in 2019. She said she appreciated Virgil Abloh for opening doors for Black creatives.
PHOTO: NOAM GALAI/GETTY IMAGES FOR NYFW
By Ray A. Smith
Nov. 30, 2021 9:54 am ET
The death of trailblazing designer Virgil Abloh last weekend leaves a gaping hole for a younger generation of Black designers who drew inspiration from him, as the industry continues to face criticism about too few Black creatives and executives in top key roles at major fashion houses.
As tributes to the designer, who died Sunday of a rare and aggressive cancer, kept flowing this week from his peers, celebrities and fans, many young and aspiring Black designers recalled how much Mr. Abloh motivated them and how eager he was to help other Blacks make it in a notoriously tough business.
“There is a whole generation of designers of color across several fields that have felt the reverb of Virgil’s life mission,” said Samuel Ross, a protégé and friend of Mr. Abloh who the late designer often championed.
“He was a mentor to me, someone who taught me the dynamics of what it means to move forward in a professional and cultural context,” said Mr. Ross, who now helms his own label, A-Cold-Wall. “He was a lighthouse and a spirit guide.”
The loss is particularly tough as Mr. Abloh was one of just two Black designers at the top of a major fashion house—the other being Olivier Rousteing at Balmain. Mr. Abloh, who was appointed artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear in 2018, was the former creative director for Kanye West and dressed stars including Timothée Chalamet, Serena Williams and Michael B. Jordan. His own brand, Off-White, generated sales of nearly $350 million in 2020, with designs from sneakers to evening gowns.
Some younger Black designers said they hope to carry on Mr. Abloh’s legacy of uplifting other up-and-comers.
“Virgil was the original pioneer, the same way Obama was, and the same way I strive to be,” said Salehe Bembury, the former vice president of sneakers and men’s footwear at Versace who launched his own label Spunge earlier this year.
He said Mr. Abloh influenced him in several ways: “Everything from negotiating my Versace contract, to being an example of how to give others opportunity, to how to move through an airport, to how to tease a product, engage an audience, create a community with technology, product and social media.”
Because of what Mr. Abloh accomplished and the way he helped others, “there is now a generation of creatives, including myself, that feel empowered, capable, and armed with ideas. He was slowly injecting our community with inspiration,” Mr. Bembury said. “His loss made me further realize that I have a responsibility. I need to fulfill the same mission that he was on.”
British-Jamaican fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, founder of the Wales Bonner fashion label, was spotlighted by Mr. Abloh in a 2020 Wall Street Journal article about Black designers to watch.
“I remember his graciousness and the way he encouraged and championed my work, even at a point where not many people were paying attention,” she
said, adding that he did so for many people. “I am eternally grateful to him for fearlessly leading the way forward.”
Mr. Abloh also sang the praises of Pierre Davis, founder and co-designer of the No Sesso fashion label. Ms. Davis said she appreciated him for “pushing boundaries and opening doors for Black creatives” and using his platform to further others.
As Mr. Abloh’s fame grew, especially after he took the helm at Louis Vuitton menswear and amassed an Instagram follower count of seven million, and with various fashion, art and music projects and collaborations spinning all over the world, he found moments to coach, advise and support younger designers and creatives, even if sometimes it was by text or private messages on Instagram.
“No matter where he was in the world or what he was working on, he always answered my calls and made time,” said Everard Best, co-founder of contemporary fashion label Who Decides War, who was a close friend and collaborator of Mr. Abloh.
Mr. Abloh also used his influence to help raise awareness of older Black designers who the industry failed to honor as much as their white peers, said veteran designer Edward Buchanan, who Mr. Abloh tapped to design knitwear for his popular streetwear-influenced label Off-White.
“He wanted to make sure that all of us had a window somehow for display,” said Mr. Buchanan, who continues to run his own label Sansovino6. “He was very aware of the respective power that he had in the industry and really always wanted to pay it off.”
In July of 2020, amid the national reckoning over race in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Mr. Abloh launched a scholarship fund for Black fashion students. “When he came to us, it was his simple thought that he wanted to help young Virgil Ablohs, the 17-year-old versions of himself,” said Peter Arnold, executive director of the Fashion Scholarship Fund, which set up Mr. Abloh’s scholarship program. “It’s all about bringing to somebody who might never have this opportunity the chance to just have some connections and some mentoring and support in a journey that is super challenging, especially for Black talent.”
Ahmrii Johnson, one of the first class of Virgil Abloh Scholars, said that when she heard the news of Mr. Abloh’s passing, “all I could think of is, what do we do now?”
Ms. Johnson, a 21-year-old student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, said she learned from him to “take steps towards creating opportunity for those on the horizontal axis of myself. I feel like that’s exactly what he’d want from us.”