Defining the grey area between black and white
Virgil Abloh was a polarising figure in the worlds of fashion, art and design, but in his death, everyone finds themselves in the middle he sought to define
It was in the lead up to 808s & Heartbreak that I began to idolise Kanye West for his creativity and stubbornness on vision. This was his first “experimental” album, which was maligned at the time for its departure from the sounds of his previous music by heavily relying on auto-tuned singing. The cover was the first of many by Kanye led by Virgil Abloh’s creative direction.
I began to follow and interact online with everyone in Kanye’s orbit during this time. From producers Jeff Bhasker and Plain Pat through to those in his creative team like Don C and ultimately Virgil. Not long after the release of 808s, Virgil and Don launched RSVP Gallery in Chicago in 2009. Despite being in regional Australia, I purchased everything from Ambush POW chains (I promise I never wore it) to my KAWS Passing Through companion from them. For the latter I remember getting an e-mail from RSVP asking to prove I was real and I really wanted it shipped downunder.
I was active on Tumblr and followed RSVP Gallery there too, which led me to Virgil’s when he launched it in 2010. As I reflected on this, I had to acknowledge it would be misleading for me to say my own inspirations and taste weren’t at least shaped by his early endeavours with RSVP.
Looking back on his initial Tumblr posts, there’s barely any likes or reblogs in the notes. It’s well documented that Virgil was one of the first creatives to tap into the potential of social media communities to grow Off-White and power his ascent through the fashion world. There’s a lesson for aspiring founders and creatives in how Virgil, even with his high profile connections, started from zero online and figured it out before others could. When he first started using Instagram, I remember he used to put 🎯 in random comment sections to get attention - and it worked.
Virgil had his finger on the pulse with Tumblr and Instagram. One of Virgil’s first fashion projects notoriously used designs with hashtags all over. Unless you grew up interested in streetwear at the turn of the 2010s or you’re nostalgic for vaporwave in the age of web3, you’ve probably never heard of Been Trill. At its peak it couldn’t have been more omnipresent, featuring in capsules by Hood by Air and A.P.C.
This article isn’t about his designs or any of his projects, but to acknowledge he was tapped into the zeitgeist and leveraged this toward his passions like few others have. What he lacked in conventional skills he made up for with an awareness that the internet can take someone who doesn’t have what it takes on paper, to prove they do in practise. He became the Creative Director for Louis Vuitton menswear and started a global fashion brand, Off-White, with no traditional training. He collaborated with the likes of Nike, Ikea, Evian and Takashi Murakami while his artworks display in museums.
It’s true he was connected to Kanye, which provided a platform many others with his background lacked, but he didn’t grow up with Kanye. He capitalised on an opportunity when first meeting Kanye and continued to earn his trust. Kanye also wasn’t a gatekeeper of the fashion world. When asked in interviews, the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Raf Simons wouldn’t accept Virgil as one of their own.
It was not a foregone conclusion that Virgil would succeed as a designer. While many from Kanye’s circles have built their own empires independent of him, none have been as successful as Virgil. He never let his background get in the way of reaching heights thought to be impossible and he did it as a minority born of immigrants. No matter what you thought about his creative output, you have to envy his ability to succeed off passion and self-learning instead of traditional training and education.
This article was then going to compare the community building that led to Virgil’s success and its potential applications in web3. He appeared to launch his first NFT collection and so I had a few lines about how it wouldn’t be surprising if he already had his own 10K collection in the works (hence the BAYC image above).
Most NFT trends are derivative and Virgil famously championed that changing a design by only 3% constitutes it as new. I believe there is a strong linear relationship between the rise of streetwear, resale and hypebeast culture and what NFTs have become so far. He would fit right in…I mean, he sold a “right-click save as” of the Mona Lisa at Ikea.
Then Fred Ehrsam shared this thread on Twitter which touches on web3 projects Virgil had been working on and how they connected to his own experience. Virgil is a web2 example of what the underlying drivers of web3 could achieve at scale.
I was looking back through Virgil’s first Tumblr posts because that’s when I was a fan. I found the below post with only 7 notes from May 12, 2010. Only he and those close to him would know what he was referring too. Ultimately he passed away having excelled in careers spanning fashion design, DJing, contemporary art and as a father of two children.