A Visionary, Virgil Abloh

After spending so many years following Virgil Abloh and his approach to design, craft and creativity – it’s hard to think of anyone who was as unique. 

He opened my eyes to a new way of thinking when “The Ten” collection was released back in 2017: to look at everything from a new perspective and to scrutinise every design decision – like he did when he took an exacto knife to those shoes. He’d made big moves before this, but I knew when I picked up my pair of his reworked Air Max 90s that this was something different. That collection was crafted to embody his ‘you can do it too’ mentality and boy was that exciting.

Abloh’s design mission was underpinned by inspiring young creatives to do their thing, their way, especially those who didn’t think design was for them. The tributes coming in from all over the world show that he tried to open the door for Black youth and empower them to pursue their careers in fashion. He showed us that creatives have an incredible opportunity to change the world with our work. To say that he completed this design mission in his lifetime would be an understatement. He nailed it.

Using his black sharpie, he showed us what was possible, and created a blueprint for emerging creatives so that they too could achieve the same.

Virgil Abloh 1980 – 2021