Virgil Abloh, the Ghana born artist and creator who has been instrumental in Kanye’s success in the fashion world, has been named Louis Vuitton’s new Men’s Wear Designer.
Virgil will serve as the luxury brand’s artist director for men’s wear. With this, he also becomes their first African-American designer at the top level. “I feel elated,” Virgil told NY times on Sunday, adding that he has plans to relocate his family to Paris to take the job at the largest brand in the stable of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group. “This opportunity to think through what the next chapter of design and luxury will mean at a brand that represents the pinnacle of luxury was always a goal in my wildest dreams. And to show a younger generation that there is no one way anyone in this kind of position has to look is a fantastically modern spirit in which to start,” he continued.
“Virgil is incredibly good at creating bridges between the classic and the zeitgeist of the moment,” said Michael Burke, chief executive of Louis Vuitton. The two first met about 12 years ago when Virgil spent six months interning at Fendi with Kanye West, where Mr. Burke was then the chief executive. “I paid them $500 a month!” Mr. Burke said. “I was really impressed with how they brought a whole new vibe to the studio and were disruptive in the best way. Virgil could create a metaphor and a new vocabulary to describe something as old-school as Fendi. I have been following his career ever since.”
Abloh first rose to fame when he took the responsibilities of creating merchandise and art direction behind Kanye and Jay-Z’s Watch The Throne album. He would later go on and get nominated for a Grammy and work regularly as a fashion consultant and creative director with Kanye. He eventually ended up creating one of the hottest brands among the millennials at the moment, Off-White.
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