American designer Virgil Abloh founded the Pyrex Vision label in Milan in 2012, which he later transformed into Off-White. He was known not only for his innovative designs but interesting collaborations, including with Nike, Levi'sem, Jimmy Choo, IKEA, Evian and Maybach.
Virgil Abloh explained Off-White as "the grey zone between black and white, the colour of broken white". Which we can probably take metaphorically to mean that nothing is only black or only white. These are designs that are not obvious, full of contrast, unisex and oversized.
Kayne West's colleague
He was born in 1980 in Rockford, Illinois as the son of immigrants from Ghana. His mother was a seamstress and his father managed a finishing company. From his mother he learned to sew. But that still didn't get him into design. He graduated in civil engineering and architecture, through which he met Rem Koolhaas, an architect who collaborated on the Prada shows. He inspired him with fashion. Alboh started designing t-shirts and writing about fashion and design while already at university. While working on his designs in a print shop in Chicago, he met popular musician Kanye West.
After graduating from university, Abloh interned at the Fendi office in Rome. He ended up there together with Kanye West and they started working together. It was then that Abloh caught the attention of Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke. A year later West appointed Abloh as creative director of his creative agency Donda. In 2012 Abloh launched his first company, Pyrex Vision. He bought Ralph Lauren's discontinued clothes for $40, made his own prints on them and each at a premium price of $550. A year later he liquidated the company because he didn't intend to run it commercially, but as an artistic experiment.
Off-White in the mainstream
Abloh founded his first fashion house and second company in 2013 - streetwear label Off-White. He presented his collections at Paris Fashion Week shows and sold them in shops in Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Milan, London, the UK and New York.
The years 2016 to 2019 were full of all sorts of collaborations. Off-White's designers co-created twelve models of Levi's, redesigned Nike shoe models in nineties style, giving them new designs and materials such as plastic and tulle. They collaborated with Champion to develop sixteen items of clothing, including tracksuits, hoodies, fleeces and t-shirts. They created a collection with rapper ASAP Rocky with his AWGE label.
Together with fashion house Jimmy Choo, they created shoes inspired by Lady Diana. With IKEA they released original furniture. With Sunglass Hut a unisex line of sunglasses. In June 2019, the company collaborated with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago to create a new 'University Blue' colour for Nike Air Force One shoes. The list of companies with whom something interesting has been created is impressive.
Off-White and Louis Vuitton
25 March 2018 Abloh was simultaneously appointed artistic director of the Louis Vuitton menswear line. During these times, he created a custom Off-White gown and veil for Hailey Bieber's wedding day. On the veil, he placed his design in inverted commas around the words "until death do us part". Rihanna has also been a big fan of his clothes from the beginning. One of his most recent interesting collaborations was the design of an electric car - a Maybach show car - and the clothes to go with it: several models of sweatshirts, a baseball cap and racing gloves.
In July 2021 LVMH fashion conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced that it would acquire a 60% stake in Off-White, with its founder and then creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear Virgil Abloh retaining the remaining 40%. With this, he was to spread his creative wings even further. Sadly, he died of heart failure a few months later, at the age of 41. His vision is still nurtured at Off-White. Strong colours, bold patterns, expressive clothing and accessories for unconventional personalities - you will find all this in the latest collection.
Off-White for men:
Off-White for women:
