GroomingMonica BibalouVirgil Abloh: I came across your account on
Instagram – I use Instagram like a phone
book or LinkedIn – and I recognised your
genius just by scrolling through six images.
I must have direct messaged you. I do that
to this day too. If someone has the right
personality, I direct message them and ask
them to work on projects for me.
Samuel Ross: We met before you started
Off-White in 2012. I remember you finding
me on Instagram, but then contacting me
by email. I also remember thinking that it
was hyper formal. [Laughs.] We both come
from a design background and somehow,
with you contacting me via email, we both
defaulted to “industry”. At the beginning I
was helping you out as an intern.
VA : I had to go through such a deep learning
with Kanye West, my greatest mentor. I
started with passion and you did too. That’s
why your work has vigour now. I usually
say to people who work for me, “Work on
this project for three months.” I can tell if
they’re just doing it to try to get somewhere
fast because there’s no real reward at the
beginning. When I started, I didn’t have the
resources to make clothing, but I could DJ
and I could do graphic design. The way I was
working was with one brain and one laptop,
but if I find someone – like you – who has
a similar kind of brain then all of a sudden
we’re producing double the amount of work,
if not triple. I don’t use the word “assistant”,
because I feel like that’s an old term for, like,
carrying stuff, but I needed a “collaborator”.
I consider what we do collaborating. One
of the first projects we worked on before
Off-White was bringing Hood By Air back...SR: Do you remember how many we were
doing? Hundreds of graphics a day. We got
into that state that creatives call “flow”.
Ideas just kept going and going and concepts
were continuously evolving. It was truly
amazing, that period of ideation.
VA : You were the first intern to work with
me. You came to work with me when I was
finalising my production deal for Off-White
in Milan. At that point, Off-White only had
one employee, the production manager.
SR: I gave up everything to come and work
with you. I understood I was witnessing the
beginning of a zeitgeist. I read a lot about
you and realised that your main motive
was about contributing to this generation,
so I was willing to take the risk.
VA : I take responsibility for the creatives
who work with me. After all, I was that.
Even when it comes to paying people, I
want to be the best. I know you need to
be able to pay your rent. Whenever I takeon a project, whether it’s Hood By Air or
anything else, if it doesn’t pay financially
it has to add weight to your résumé.
SR: Money is important, but it isn’t the end
point. Even six or seven years ago, we knew
we were part of a bigger painting. We were
aware. We were just getting our brushes wet.
VA: Part of my career so far has been about
breaking down industry tropes that say
what a designer should be: the designer
who shuts the door, smokes a cigarette and
has a reputation for being an asshole. In the
beginning, I believed that’s who you had
to be to make good work. I don’t look like
a designer in the traditional sense. I don’t
speak like that guy. Mentorship is about
showing that collaboration is not a taboo
and that you need a team to make it work.
SR: I worked with you because it was
a just cause. The main objective was to
redefine the archetype of what it means to
be a modern designer who works across a
multitude of fields. That was the assignment.VA : You have to take a leap of faith. I feel
like we’re reaping the fruits of our labour
now. No two people were more surprised
than you and I about my appointment at
Louis Vuitton and about your runway show
in London, but we saw the potential and the
capacity in each other from the beginning. It
was like the confirmation came from outside,
but we already knew. It gives me belief
that people can see the intellectual layer of
A-Cold-Wall*, rather than you just being
seen as the “hot new” designer. I don’t think
our generation carries the same baggage
as previous generations. I don’t see you as
a black designer. I don’t see Grace [Wales
Bonner] as a female designer. I see talent. I
see shows. I see silhouettes. I see a narrative.
I see storytelling. That makes a community.
SR: I have a team of kids who hang around
with me. They’re not interns, but they
contribute ideas. Through the internet,
the generation coming through has had
more time to teach and train themselves.
There’s a kid called Eastwood who I mentor.
He had his first showroom in Paris, he’s
just launched his first Converse and he’s
at Central Saint Martins. He wouldn’t
have been able to do any of that a decade
ago aged 18. Passing on a positive mind-
set is important. The “each one teach
one” mentality is key. It’s not about self-
preservation, it’s about growth and sharing.
VA : Yeah, when I look at people I want to
shape my career around – Dieter Rams,
Le Corbusier – they’ve helped me move
differently. They have confidence in their
work and lack of confidence causes paranoia.
I suss people out. I only work closely with
people I believe are individuals. I don’t
keep territorial people in my ecosystem.
What we’re talking about is the emergence
of a new period of creation. In 30 years
we’ll look back at how us and the industry
exist. We’re trying to make an earthquake,
to make something new. Criticism is valid,
but I’m more concerned with expression.
For me, I’m not concerned with outside
perception. I’m in dialogue with my own
archive and body of work.
SR: For me, a show and a collection is one
facet of expression, but the bigger idea is to
frame the next movement and the next idea.
We’re framing a new age of communication
and art – not just fashion. GVirgil Abloh, the 38-year-old
artistic director of menswear
at Louis Vuitton, first met
Samuel Ross, 28, the London-
born founder of award-winning
fashion brand A-Cold-Wall*, in 2012, when
Abloh hired Ross as an intern. Seven years
later, both men have gone on to achieve
extraordinary things, not least paving the
way for a diverse new generation of superstar
designers. But neither would have reached his
current position without the encouragement,
guidance and wisdom of their respective
mentors: in the case of Virgil Abloh, Kanye
West; in the case of Ross, Abloh himself...Virgil Abloh & Samuel RossFollowing his recent BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund win, we spoke to Ross and the
creative he once interned for about the transformative power of mentorshipStory by Teo van den Broeke Photograph by Vincent Flouret‘ I don’t use theword “assistant”.I consider what wedid collaborating’09-19FeatureFashionMentors.indd 186 26/06/2019 09:52
154 GQ.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2019