November 28th 2022 – Virgil Abloh died exactly one year ago today. hamansutra’s showcase 2017 – 2022 with Louis Vuitton and Off White.
No risk, nothing new – as I always say at my meetings. Put your trust in the creative ones. As Alexander McQueen famously said, “give me time and i’ll give you a revolution”. Amazing how our designs keep bearing fruit after many years and step into official favour. Virgil Abloh, we were delighted you liked the Helmet design that creates eyewear inspired by the safety mesh of a football helmet.
Photography by Ben Awin for Hypebeast
November 28th 2022 – Virgil Abloh died exactly one year ago today. hamansutra’s showcase 2017 – 2022 with Louis Vuitton and Off White.
No risk, nothing new – as I always say at my meetings. Put your trust in the creative ones. As Alexander McQueen famously said, “give me time and i’ll give you a revolution”. Amazing how our designs keep bearing fruit after many years and step into official favour. Virgil Abloh, we were delighted you liked the Helmet design that creates eyewear inspired by the safety mesh of a football helmet.
Photography by Ben Awin for Hypebeast
RIP BROTHER . VIRGIL ABLOH
I think what shocked us all so much about Virgil Abloh’s untimely death was that he had kept so quiet about his aggressive and incurable cancer; only people very close to him were aware of what he was going through. Such devastating news, and the way he left us was incredibly unreal. The pain goes deep. When Virgil had a stroke in 2019, the cause was explained as stress from his phenomenal workload – Louis Vuitton and his own label Off White alongside 300 other projects with companies including furniture and automotive brands, his work with Nike, book publications, art exhibitions, public speaking, and of course his global DJ gigs and productions. Every day was packed with meetings in different countries. So that was his everyday life. But there was a dark side to his continual acceptance of more and more projects: knowing he didn’t have long to live, he poured all his strength into achieving everything before facing the final curtain. In autumn 2021 he suddenly sold Off White to the LVMH Group, which now owns over 60% of the label. He did that although everyone knew he’d wanted his own label to stay independent, with nobody interfering with his visions or frowning over the figures. The proceeds from the sale naturally went to his family, so they never need to worry about money again – not that they would have had to anyway. Virgil Abloh knew his time was short, but he announced the news of the sale to distract us from noticing it. Until now. He died on November 28, 2021, just three days before his last collection in Miami was due to show. He never saw it. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. Releasing a new collection into the world is the most emotional experience ever for an artist, and then not even to see it happen after putting your heart and soul into it? It’s left me deeply, deeply shocked and completely numb. Brother, we worked on a few projects together and it was a joy to create the Off White Football Helmet and present Virgil Abloh’s Alphabet at Louis Vuitton. I normally play the role of the phantom in the shadows, but who knows, there may be more projects with your label. I well remember when Virgil Abloh became Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton. I was at the LV headquarters when it happened and the people there asked me what I thought of him. They were baffled by all the hate comments, but also sceptical of the new Artistic Director; they begrudged him the job. Under enormous pressure, he sometimes borrowed Duchamp’s philosophy of ‘ironic detachment’ to adapting styles from other designers, which earned him plenty of criticism. At a company as traditional as Louis Vuitton, there was disbelief that streetwear would be fashion’s new ne plus ultra and dismissal of its importance in attracting the millennial generation as new customers. I would never have thought I would end up writing a letter like this. Rest in Beats, Rest in Paradise, Love Dreams and Hip Hop Virgil Abloh.
Photography
Off White
I think what shocked us all so much about Virgil Abloh’s untimely death was that he had kept so quiet about his aggressive and incurable cancer; only people very close to him were aware of what he was going through. Such devastating news, and the way he left us was incredibly unreal. The pain goes deep. When Virgil had a stroke in 2019, the cause was explained as stress from his phenomenal workload – Louis Vuitton and his own label Off White alongside 300 other projects with companies including furniture and automotive brands, his work with Nike, book publications, art exhibitions, public speaking, and of course his global DJ gigs and productions. Every day was packed with meetings in different countries. So that was his everyday life. But there was a dark side to his continual acceptance of more and more projects: knowing he didn’t have long to live, he poured all his strength into achieving everything before facing the final curtain. In autumn 2021 he suddenly sold Off White to the LVMH Group, which now owns over 60% of the label. He did that although everyone knew he’d wanted his own label to stay independent, with nobody interfering with his visions or frowning over the figures. The proceeds from the sale naturally went to his family, so they never need to worry about money again – not that they would have had to anyway. Virgil Abloh knew his time was short, but he announced the news of the sale to distract us from noticing it. Until now. He died on November 28, 2021, just three days before his last collection in Miami was due to show. He never saw it. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. Releasing a new collection into the world is the most emotional experience ever for an artist, and then not even to see it happen after putting your heart and soul into it? It’s left me deeply, deeply shocked and completely numb. Brother, we worked on a few projects together and it was a joy to create the Off White Football Helmet and present Virgil Abloh’s Alphabet at Louis Vuitton. I normally play the role of the phantom in the shadows, but who knows, there may be more projects with your label. I well remember when Virgil Abloh became Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton. I was at the LV headquarters when it happened and the people there asked me what I thought of him. They were baffled by all the hate comments, but also sceptical of the new Artistic Director; they begrudged him the job. Under enormous pressure, he sometimes borrowed Duchamp’s philosophy of ‘ironic detachment’ to adapting styles from other designers, which earned him plenty of criticism. At a company as traditional as Louis Vuitton, there was disbelief that streetwear would be fashion’s new ne plus ultra and dismissal of its importance in attracting the millennial generation as new customers. I would never have thought I would end up writing a letter like this. Rest in Beats, Rest in Paradise, Love Dreams and Hip Hop Virgil Abloh.
Photography
Off White
