Virgil Abloh Proved That Fashion Could Change, Has Changed, And Will Continue To Change

In less than a decade, the late Virgil Abloh proved that fashion could change, has changed, and will continue to change.

- Asri Jasman

It was in September 2016 that I had the opportunity to meet and interview Virgil Abloh. The tall, Ghanaian-American creative director was in Singapore on the occasion of the opening of OffWhite’s first store here. It was the brand’s seventh then—a far cry from the more than 60 stockists that it’s currently available globally—and Abloh made every attempt in ensuring that the press knew about every inch of the space.

Abloh felt imposing, but not only in the physical sense. Even long before his appointment as men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton, Abloh was already a creative force and his reputation preceded him. He was the creative director of Donda, a creative content company founded by Kanye West that was involved in conceptualising everything from music videos to the album art for a number of hiphop artists. One of the first Donda projects was West’s collaborative album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne, which earned Abloh a 2012 Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.