That would be Off-White designer
Virgil Abloh—who knows a lot about style and
finding work you love. By Jane Keltner de ValleFashion’s
Breakout
Star
Photographs by Miguel Reveriego Stylist: Katie Mossmani
would die if I had a nine-to-five,” says Virgil Abloh. And he doesn’t:
The 36-year-old lives “on an airplane” as a designer/DJ/architect/
engineer/father/collaborator of Kanye West. Abloh, whose M.O. is
that you don’t have to choose one thing in life, may for that reason be
the quintessential modern fashion designer. His three-year-old label,
Off-White, is a streetwear-couture mash-up that has drawn critical
raves, become a mainstay of the Kardashian-Jenner crew, and, inci-
dentally, landed on two Glamour covers this year. Abloh himself is part
of the group currently leading the fashion vanguard, alongside Euro-
pean standouts like Demna Gvasalia of Balenciaga and Vetements, and
A lessa nd ro Michele of Guc ci. “O ur upbr ing ing wa s a lit t le ava nt-ga rde, so
the result is avant-garde,” Abloh says of himself and his peers. “You have to
live a lifestyle to be able to design for that.”
His history is in a lot of ways very American. Abloh was born in Rockford,
Illinois, the son of immigrants from Ghana. “I easily could have been born in
a third world country, jumping over exposed gutters,” he says, “and I would
still be the exact same person. I would just be in a space where I wouldn’t be
able t o have a n i mpa c t .” In s t e a d , A bloh g rew up a subu rba n k id of t he n i ne-
ties, skateboarding and DJ-ing at high school dances. When his father said
he should be an engineer, Abloh enrolled in college for that, but eventually
segued into architecture, which led him to discover first the Dutch archi-
tect Rem Koolhaas, then Prada (Koolhaas designed some of the brand’s
stores), and somewhere along the way fellow Chicagoan Kanye West. (Don’t
all roads lead to West?) They began collaborating 13 years ago, with Abloh
consulting on everything from album covers to West’s Yeezy line. “I started
as an intern—I’m still his assistant,” he jokes. “He’s like a nuclear-level art-
i s t , m a k i ng l iv i ng pie c e s of a r t t hat happen t o be pop - c u lt u re f i x t u re s. He’s
taught me a lot about how to be a creative in this modern landscape.”
That may explain the drive behind Off-White. The label, based in Milan,
shows at Paris Fashion Week—and the rarity of a male African American
designer showing in Paris and being celebrated for it (West himself tried sev-
eral years ago, but to mixed reviews) isn’t lost on Abloh. “I feel like it’s my job
to go and break down barriers,” he says. His clothes don’t subscribe to norms
either: The fall collection featured a one-shoulder tuxedo jacket paired with
sweats. For resort Abloh played with the oversize deconstructed denim and
graphic shirting you see here.
So how does the designer, who somehow combines 2:00 A.M. DJ gigs
and global commitments with a wife, Shannon, and two young kids,
describe his 100-mph life? The way many of us would love to: “I’m
basically the same 17-year-old version of myself as an adult,” he says.
“I ’v e ju s t t r a n s l a t e d my i nt e r e s t s i nt o a for m id a ble job.”158 glamour.com