What Does Virgil Abloh Know?

His haute- street wear line off-white has a cultish following but the clothes aren't the point.

- Carl Swanson

VIRGIL ABLOH LIKES to talk. He possesses an unusual, not quite-sure-if-he-means-it talent for the gnomic monologue, holding forth on how he is “kicking dents in culture” and represents a kind of fashion that is “post- Tumblr, post– street style,” and how his lauded label Off-White isn’t fashion exactly but rather a “platform” for his being a “creative.” But then it makes a certain sense coming from a designer, itinerant DJ, and social-media super connector who has been a member of Kanye West’s inner circle for nearly 14 years, dating back to the era when West was still close enough to his middle-class frustrations that he wrote a song about being talked down to at his retail job.

Today, Abloh is West’s “creative director,” advising him on everything from tour merchandise and album covers to set design, if not yet on his political aspirations, and occasionally making peace between members of his posse, acting as, in his own words, a kind of “camp counselor.” The two are so close that when West decided he wanted to learn more about fashion, in 2009, he brought Abloh along with him to an internship at Fendi.