Artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s wear and founder of Off-White Virgil Abloh passed away at 41. According to the official announcement posted on his Instagram account, he died from a rare and aggressive form of cardiac angiosarcoma. Abloh was diagnosed back in 2019, and he chose to endure his battle privately. 

Abloh is also known as a barrier-breaking Black designer, the first and most powerful African-American to lead a luxury French fashion house. He was born on 30 September 1980 in Rockford, Illinois to Ghanaian immigrants, Nee and Eunice Abloh. He grew up immersed in skate and hip-hop culture. 

Abloh studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He did not study fashion formally, but his mother was a seamstress and she taught him how to sew and some of the basic tricks of her trade. 

His fashion career started back in 2009 when he met Kanye West as they went for an internship at Fendi together. At that time, Kanye signed a deal for a sneaker collaboration with Louis Vuitton, and Abloh was part of his creative team. In 2010, Abloh became the creative director of Kanye’s creative content company Donda. 

In 2012, Abloh released his own line Off-White, which is known as a streetwear luxury fashion label. He described the brand as “the grey area between black and white as the color off-white” to the fashion world.

Abloh in July was promoted to a higher position within LVMH after it acquired a majority stake in Off-White. The position allowed him to work across the group’s 75 brands, as the fashion conglomerate is seeking to tap into a new business segment targeting youth and a more diverse set of customers. 

“Virgil is incredibly good at creating bridges between the classic and the zeitgeist of the moment,”  said chief executive of Louis Vuitton Michael Burke. 

Other than working in fashion, Abloh is also known as a DJ and a furniture designer. He referred to himself not as a designer, but as a “maker,” due to his omnivorous creative mind. He partnered with IKEA in 2019 and released a limited collection MARKERAD. 

Abloh is survived by his wife Shannon Abloh, his children Lowe Abloh and Grey Abloh, his sister Edwina Abloh, his parents Nee and Eunice Abloh, and numerous friends and colleagues.