As the fashion world mourns Virgil Abloh, we look back at some of his iconic moments

The 41-year-old artistic director of Louis Vuitton, founder of Off-White and CFDA board member, passed away after an almost two-year-long battle with cardiac angiosarcoma. A Chicago native, Abloh leaves behind an impressive legacy. His multi-faceted work and ability to translate culture into art have and will continue to leave an impact on not only fashion but culture, music and design. 

In 2018, Abloh was appointed as Louis Vuitton's artistic director, in a move that sent waves through the luxury fashion industry, where a scarce few people of colour hold high creative roles. He joined the likes of Balmain's Olivier Rousteing and former creative director at Givenchy, Ozwald Boateng but without a doubt, created a style that is truly his own.

Fiercely true to the American street culture he loved, the influences of his youth fueled his design aesthetic as he re-imagined Louis Vuitton while still keeping the brand's iconic heritage and identity.  

How many fashion designers have "Grammy Award nominee" on their list of accolades? Having worked on visuals for several iconic rap albums, including Kanye West’s 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' and 'Yeezus', and A$AP Rocky’s 'Long.Live.A$AP.', Abloh also provided artistic direction for West’s and Jay-Z’s collaborative album 'Watch the Throne', earning him a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package at the 54^thannual Grammy awards in 2012. 

Abloh's label, Off-White has had a slew of celebrity clients including singer/songwriter Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Hailey Beiber and tennis star Serena Williams who has worn his creations on the court and the cover of Vogue. Famous faces such as Kaia Gerber and Bella and Gigi Hadid have also graced his runway shows. 

Plain labels, diagonal lines and the iconography of cities in America, white arrows, formed the foundation of the label’s design aesthetic together with its iconic quotation marks. Mixing his love for art, design and street culture, the label was a perfect contemporary blend of luxury fabrics and streetwear silhouettes. Abloh debuted his first womenswear line for Off-White at Paris Fashion Week in 2014 and was nominated as a finalist for the LVMH prize. 

Staying true to his style and identity, Abloh’s Spring/Summer 2019 for Louis Vuitton was an exercise in luxury street chic and an ode to the 80s-90s American street culture that he loved. Deconstructing the formal suit that is iconic to luxury brands, it projected a new era of menswear fueled by fluidity and street style.

Precise tailoring balanced with the casual ease associated with streetwear, bright colours, tie-dye, holographic hues and psychedelic prints featured alongside unstructured blazers, suits, utility vests and trench coats. Inspired by the Wizard of Oz, models from across the globe strutted down a rainbow runway in a celebration of diversity. Yes, there was even a map dotted with where each model originated from.  

During his time at Louis Vuitton, Abloh also reinvented some of its classic bags. For his Fall/Winter 2021 Men's collection, he re-fashioned the Christopher backpack in an Epi leather with a spray paint effect (reminiscent of graffiti art) and the Attaché bag was redesigned with neon elements.  

Launched during his debut on LV’s Spring/Summer 2019 runway, The Soft Trunk was a key piece in the collection. It featured a monogrammed canvas and was finished with a bright, bold orange resin chain at the side or front of the bag. 

Multiple variations of the Soft Trunk have been introduced by Louis Vuitton since then, most recently, a shorter, narrower, mini version was created. Retaining the same silhouette as its larger predecessors, The Mini Soft Trunk can be carried as a clutch or be slung across the body via the attachable chain-and leather strap, to create a cool cross-body look.

The significance of The Soft Trunk? Abloh’s intellectual creativity and ability to mix cultures, trends, and traditions to create a style that broke boundaries and appealed to the new age of fashion consumers. He took a piece of fashion history, Louis Vuitton’s iconic, hard-sided travel trunks, kept elements of it such as the riveted corners and re-imagined it for everyday wear while maintaining the essence of his streetwear aesthetic. 

Hailey Beiber left a heartfelt tribute to Abloh on her Instagram upon hearing the news. Abloh designed Hailey's wedding dress for her South Carolina nuptials with now-husband Justin Beiber. The stunning custom, lace Off-White, lace gown was embroidered in beads and floral sequins and the highlight of the garment was the meter-long veil, where traditional lace came together with modern embroidery. The end of the veil featured the words "TILL DEATH DO US APART". In Abloh's signature quotation marks.