The news that American designer, DJ, and entrepreneur Virgil Abloh had passed away at the age of 41 shocked and saddened the world last month. Virgil died on November 28, 2021, after a private battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. As well as being the founder of Off-White, he was also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection beginning in 2018 and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021. He was widely considered to have single-highhandedly changed the creative industry, by breaking barriers, and opening doors for an entire generation of artists. He was the first American of African descent to serve as artistic director at a French luxury fashion house. He started out in the international fashion industry as an intern at Fendi. In 2018, he was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Here we share a collection of the most motivational Virgil Abloh quotes that can inspire you in your career and life, because as Virgil wrote on the blog The Brilliance in 2007 “I am all about championing this new era of designers becoming the new rock stars”:
“The one thing that I think the luxury market needs to understand is that culture has changed. I don’t know if there’s any way to underline that any further. This should be in bold writing — that luxury by a 17-year-old’s standard is completely different than his parents’. His version of luxury is streetwear.”
“I believe in mentoring, because I know that the barrier for me took many years and a lot of hours [to overcome]. I don’t really adopt that same philosophy that another kid who’s younger has to jump through all those hoops before he can be in Paris and do that.”
“For me, the only thing I truly am is a creative person. I have ideas across all categories, so in a way it’s a matter of understanding and offering a suggestion to what the future could hold. Fashion is just one field of many that design can be applied to.”
“I feel like, what’s the point of design and art if you’re not creating and thinking freely? It’s the duty of artists to dream out loud in a productive way. For me, it’s depressing if an industry based on creativity just makes decisions on a practical basis.”
“Creative director’ is a catchall phrase for giving ideas. To me, it obviously means more than that. It’s like being a counselor.”
“Collaboration is not a punchline… I only collaborate with the best in each category.”
“As a young designer in tune with culture, I’m interested in the lifeline of trends.”
“When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together.”
“I pride myself in collaborating and being a creative director, and creative direction isn’t putting my opinion first. It’s supporting an artist so they get the most out of the project.”
“Big teams are absolutely vital if you want to achieve certain results when you’re working on larger scales, both in terms of physical size and productive quantities.”
“The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that’s how you create things that are totally new.”
“All I do all day is think of ideas and implement them. That’s an industry, you know. I’m trying to make art on a commercial scale.”
“From my perspective, I’m trying to stand for a generation. You know, each generation has designers who go along with it.”
“I love counterfeits, it’s the best feedback. It’s better than a great review in Vogue. If it’s working to a point where someone else can profit […] it’s really working.”
“Humor is an entry point for humanity.”
“The world moves as fast as Instagram scrolls.”
