Often labelled as unoriginal and uninspiring, Virgil takes it on the chin in an effort to fight the powers that reside in an industry whose old guards place more emphasis on where you come from, rather than what you can do for the culture.
Virgil Abloh is probably the nicest guy in fashion for all the hate he receives. The current formidable generation of hip hop Air Jordan’s, skating and music, which Virgil Abloh comes from, largely dismisses the structured foolproof hierarchy that used to make up the fashion industry. An industry that now embraces streetwear as high fashion, yet doesn’t recognise the pace-setters as peer designers. Off-White is the response to that, as it breaks through the long-held belief that you have to be in fashion to know fashion.
Off-White rises from the ashes of Abloh’s 2012 project Pyrex Vision in which he – much to the vexation of the ever-present streetwear audience – screen printed the word “pyrex” on deadstock flannel shirts that he got on discount from Ralph Lauren. He subsequently sold the shirts for $550 a piece, making no friends along the way, except the ones that mattered.
Abloh would subsequently close Pyrex and launch the brand Off-White in 2013, which drew enough notice to see the designer become the only American finalist in the 2015 LVHM Prize for young fashion designers. The brand, with its now infamous black and white diamond stripes, has become the benchmark (for better or for worse) for when streetwear meets high fashion. Virgil’s collections are debuted exclusively in Paris, the city which he calls fashion’s home court.
And that’s the thing, Off-White is more of a dissemination of youth culture rather than a brand completely on its own. Virgil even professes that the brand is taken directly from the youth culture he sees around him, the only condition being that he adds an incredible value to it. Even the ‘About’ page on Off-White‘s official website reads that the brand is “…a fashion label rooted in current culture at a taste-level particular to now. With a specific opinion and not necessarily same with vision seasonal men’s and women’s collections.” Finally, it reads, “the result is to be a young brand embracing the now in a sophisticated manner.” In other words, Off-White takes from the culture, transforming it to high-end fashion. Ironically, the brand’s self-professed aim is also probably their biggest criticism.
With this familiar yet eccentric take on the culture it comes from, Off-White rarely examines itself beyond what it is. For some it’s flashy, for others it’s amazing, for many more it may be unnecessary – but there is no denying its impact.
Virgil even uses Off-White to turn attention to the industry that often shuns him. He once redesigned an entire autumn women’s collection, calling it ‘Nothing New,’ in response to criticism by Rae for Raf Simons – to which Abloh calls his greatest inspiration. With both men’s and women’s collections all designed in Milan with Off-White, Virgil has single-handedly become the de facto leader of the sophisticated streetwear market. Perhaps this doesn’t state the designer’s success enough, because no matter how much hate he receives, Abloh keeps moving forward. Securing collaborations with Nike, helping young designers release their collections, collaborating with Hiroshi Fujiwara, opening flagship stores in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and a new location in New York – Abloh’s success is nothing short of revolutionary.
Here’s someone who can talk about young YouTube rappers and world-renowned architects in the same sentence. Maye that’s the reason why he gets so much hate, because nobody likes a know-it-all. But that doesn’t stop the man from defining the grey area between black and white as Off-White.
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