Monday, April 29, 2024

The Virgil Abloh phenomenon, or how the Off-White designer conquered the world

off white design

Long-term creative advisor to rapper Kanye West, he launched his label, Off-White, in September 2013, which led to him becoming one of the finalists for the prestigious LVMH prize in 2015, which eventually went to the duo Marques’Almeida and the French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus. The world has changed profoundly for the Off-White design studio and the New Guards Group that produces the OW collections. Going forward, their job will be striking a balance between homage and honoring Abloh’s drive for constant forward movement. Designed before his passing, this collection makes good on the “more adult” Off-White, while also celebrating childhood and youthful games. If it were anybody else, that might sound like a post-mortem tweak of former detractors, but that’s not Abloh’s style. A brand rep described it as a playful endorsement of doing your own thing.

The hottest fashion brand in the world was built on irony and $1,000 sweatshirts

Born Daniel Day, he opened ‘Dapper Dan’s Boutique’ in 1989, in the midst of hip hop’s meteoric rise within pop culture. Yet, while rap coveted the exclusivity of luxury fashion, haute–couture brands shunned any such association with hip–hop artists for fear of alienating their target demographic. In response, Dapper Dan created one–of–a–kind counterfeits of upmarket brands, repurposing their logos and styles into extravagant, audacious original designs. The brand was founded in 2012, and its popularity isn’t new, but it’s now reaching heights that, to the idle but curious fashion observer, may be confounding. Its guiding principle is just “everything in quotes,” as in, “everything is ironic and also the main recognizable design element on the clothes is chunky quotation marks.” A black dress with the words “Little Black Dress” written on it, in quotes.

off white design

Loses Mounted As Sales Dwindled

Off-White, too, was conceived almost 10 years ago.” Christian Dior left a design legacy and values that continue to guide the house to this day, and according to De Giglio and Grilli, Abloh left an “endless” stream of ideas behind that they can build a lasting house around. “The next two years, we are going to go full-speed,” Grilli told BOF. A Chicago native born to Ghanaian parents, Virgil Abloh studied as a civil engineer at the University of Wisconsin, followed by a masters in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

A White Knight May Save Express

Off-White™ has officially launched _LOGIC - The Face

Off-White™ has officially launched _LOGIC.

Posted: Sat, 18 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Garments accentuated only by their item names in quotation marks. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Many say it’s “aesthetically good stuff” but that they can’t get behind the “disingenuous” message of the brand. And boy, are the boys of Reddit ever aware of Off-White. There are only 2,000 members of the Off-White specific subreddit, but the 807,000 readers of the primary streetwear subreddit discuss it constantly. Fw18 men’s Off-White™ graphic crewneck fleece sweatshirt from collection titled “Business Casual”.

Collection

Couture is the height of fashion fantasy, but Abloh always had an instinct for making even the most expensive garments feel more accessible than aspirational. Abloh surely understood the pitfalls of trying to bring the romance of couture to the Zoomer generation. “Maybe Virgil is one of the greatest designers of our generation or maybe he’s just best friends with Kanye,” one user writes. “I like to think it’s somewhere in the middle.” Abloh represents a highly American tale of improbable work-driven success and highly probable celebrity-proximity, luck-driven success. Even before that, Diet Prada, the popular Instagram account known for semi-accurately calling out rip-offs in the fashion industry, pointed out that the Off-White logo was nearly identical to a 1965 Glasgow airport design created by a famous UK design group. It found a photo of Abloh in his office, with a copy of a modernist design book that had an entry about the logo in question, and also accused him of plagiarizing Calvin Klein’s Raf Simons and the Japanese label Anrealage.

Social Media Influencers Must Now Label Retouched Photos Under New Norwegian Law

off white design

Part of Express’s motivation to file for bankruptcy is to help secure funding that could save the business in the long term. The company has confirmed that it received a non-binding letter of intent from a consortium led by WHP Global (“WHP”) and participants including a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Simon Property Group Simon Property Group , L. P. (“Simon”) and Brookfield Properties (“Brookfield”) for the potential sale of a substantial majority of Express’ retail stores and operations. Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties have extreme competence in real estate leasing and operations.

In 2017, Off-White partnered with Nike to redesign 10 of the company’s best-selling and classic styles. There are basically no words for how popular and how difficult to purchase this line of sneakers has been. Though the starting price points were around $200, most available pairs seemed to end up in the hands of celebrities, and resale prices now hover north of $1,000. As perplexing as it was when kids lined up and paid $1,000-plus to buy a literal brick released by Supreme two years ago, at least it was clear that it was in some ways a joke. It’s extremely expensive streetwear — primarily T-shirts and hoodies and sneakers — beloved by the teenagers of Reddit, the rich club kids of New York and Milan, the pop stars and rappers in every magazine and on every social media feed, and much of the high-fashion elite, including Abloh’s day-one fan Marc Jacobs.

Virgil Abloh’s Final Off-White Collection Is His Most Radical

Off-White 'The Baller' Basketball Shoe Release Date - Complex

Off-White 'The Baller' Basketball Shoe Release Date.

Posted: Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

As a cutting-edge streetwear brand, the most desirable collaborations of the moment have all come from Off-White. To name but a few, the label collaborated last August with Nike, upgrading 10 of the brand’s most iconic models in a project called “The Ten”. For Spring/Summer 2018, Off-White partnered with Jimmy Choo for a line of silk heels covered in PVC and over-padded boots. Last October, the brand unveiled a collaboration with the hot streetwear concept-store Kith, designing nine exclusive pieces, from a deep black hoody to a grey sweatshirt through to a collection of t-shirts all printed with “Just Global”.

In 2002, at only 22 years old, Virgil Abloh became Kanye West’s right-hand man, with his roles extending from merchandising to album artwork to set design. In 2009, Virgil Abloh interned at the fashion house Fendi in Rome, and soon decided to launch a concept store in his native Chicago alongside Don C, co-manager of Kanye West. Named RSVP Gallery, this concept store with green neon lights offered an exclusive selection of the hottest street designers and vintage couture pieces, and soon became a landmark for those in the know in Chicago. Virgil Abloh launched his first label, Pyrex Vision, in 2012, which saw Champion t-shirts and Ralph Lauren shirts printed with the Pyrex 23 logo. The brand soon gained popularity, inviting a creative crowd from Kanye West to A$AP Rocky to design exclusive capsule collections. From its beginnings, Pyrex was sold alongside the big fashion houses, in the most influential concept stores, including Colette in Paris, Union in Los Angeles, GR8 in Tokyo and Storm in Copenhagen.

The designer decided to work with Ikea last October, unveiling the first images of the interior design collection on his Instagram, including an oriental rug in navy blue with white detailing and “Keep Off” written across it. The rest of the pieces from this exclusive collaboration will be revealed later this year - stay tuned. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks.

The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Far from being hyperbolic, descriptions of him as the ‘designer who curated hip hop culture’ or the ‘original auteur of gangster chic’ ring true.

The company’s losses mounted through last year, and by October of 2023, Express had tripled their losses compared to 2022. The company ended year-to-date in October 2023 with over $154 million in losses for 39 weeks. The company sales at that time were down 5.6% while inventory was up 32%. Gross Margins dropped from 30% in 2022 to 21.5% through October 2023. The company has not filed its fourth quarter and full-year annual financials which usually come out in March or April. Instead, the company has filed for bankruptcy protection and will continue its operations under debtor in possession status which means the company can continue its normal operations of business with the protection of the courts to help the company restructure its financial position.

A shoelace on a $700 pair of sneakers with the word “Shoelaces” written on it, in quotes. According to Burke, they haven’t decided on whether Abloh will be succeeded by a new creative director—some have speculated that Abloh protege and A-Cold-Wall creative director Samuel Ross might get the nod, for either Vuitton or Off-White—or a collective of Abloh’s creative collaborators. Some insiders speculated more privately that Off-White might wither without Abloh, a celebrity among celebrity designers, providing the creative center of gravity.

This particular line sought to expand Off White’s target market and revive the diffusion line for streetwear. The space has been designed and developed alongside AMO, the think-tank arm of renowned architecture firm OMA. Throughout the store, various spaces feature various influences, with sections including a courtyard, a market, a gallery, and a stage that extends over three floors. Each room has been designed to reflect the diverse background and identity of Off-White™. “To be fair,” Castro told me. “Off-White does have some fire items.” It’s true.

As well as opening the Paris store, the label recently announced the launch of its new kidswear line. The new store is open now, and Off-White™’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection will arrive in the flagship immediately after it is unveiled in Paris on July 4. “I’m living a 3-D, real-life version of the kind of cross-communication that happens all the time—in the sights and sounds and smells that go along with being a citizen of the globe,” he says.

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