Virgil Abloh is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur, artist, and DJ who has been the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear collection since March 2018. Abloh is also the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013.
A trained architect, Abloh, who also worked in Chicago street fashion, entered the world of international fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009 alongside rapper Kanye West. The two then began an artistic collaboration that would launch Abloh’s career into founding Off-White. The first American of African descent to be named artistic director at a French luxury fashion house, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
Abloh’s interest in music led him to DJing beginning in his teens. He DJ’d at house parties throughout high school and college. His influences included DJ’s A-Trak, Benji B and Gilles Peterson. Over the years, Abloh gained recognition as a DJ and started playing shows internationally. He has played at Hi Ibiza and also been booked for Tomorrowland’s 2019 edition. Abloh released his first single “Orvnge” with German DJ/producer Boys Noize in January 2018. In June 2019, Abloh was named to a DJ residency at Wynn Las Vegas’s XS Nightclub, with Wynn also agreeing to open an Off-White store.
In May 2019 Pioneer, maker of DJ consoles, announced its collaboration with Abloh in design of its transparent CDJ-2000NXS2 and DJM-900NXS2 models. The consoles were displayed at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art in the Figures of Speech Exhibition.