When Virgil Abloh died in November 2021, the fashion world was shocked. He\u2019d kept his diagnosis of cardiac angiosarcoma \u2013 a rare, aggressive form of cancer \u2013 private from the world.<\/p>\n
By the relatively young age of 41, he\u2019d risen to the top of one of the world\u2019s biggest fashion houses (serving as the first African-American to lead Louis Vuitton), he\u2019d founded his own successful label\u00a0Off-White\u00a0and he\u2019d collaborated with some of the world\u2019s biggest names, including his longtime friend Kanye West.<\/p>\n
The new BBC Three documentary\u00a0Virgil Abloh: How To Be Both\u00a0charts his rise from a suburb of Chicago without conventional fashion training or credentials to the top of the fashion world.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the things you might not have known about the US designer\u2026<\/p>\n
1. His \u2018insane\u2019 work ethic<\/h2>\n
Virgil Abloh achieved a lot during his lifetime and those that knew him put that down to his unusual ability to work hard on many different projects at the same time.<\/p>\n
Poet Kai-Isaiah Jamal, who was a friend of Virgil, says his \u201cwork ethic was insane\u201d and that at all times he was taking calls and responding to emails and messages on two or three phones.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone used to laugh and be like when does he sleep? And the whole thing was like never,\u201d Kai-Isaiah says. \u201cHe had time and capacity and space for everyone which I think is kind of unheard of. Everyone received the same amount of love.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe really thrived when he was involved with lots of people and doing lots of things all at the same time,\u201d says fashion critic and YouTuber Bliss Foster.<\/p>\n As well as having his own fashion label and heading up Louis Vuitton menswear, Virgil was a DJ, a shoe designer collaborating with Nike, a furniture designer for IKEA and a car designer for Mercedes-Benz among many other things.<\/p>\n \u201cVirgil was important way outside of fashion, he was a cultural force,\u201d says YouTuber Bliss.<\/p>\n For IKEA, Virgil designed a wall clock, a chair, bedding and a rug in the shape of a giant IKEA receipt.<\/p>\n Explaining why the worldwide furniture company decided to work with Virgil, Henrik Most \u2013 IKEA\u2019s creative leader \u2013 says: \u201cOnce every 10 years, somebody turns up and has this almost magnetic connection with a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think IKEA is a really important Virgil collab because it really underlines the idea that he wanted to create design for a mass audience,\u201d says creative director and editor Thom Bettridge.<\/p>\n During the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, Virgil saw a news clip of activist Trinice McNally at a rally speaking about racism among the police.<\/p>\n The designer sent her a message on social media and, via his brand Off-White, they went on to collaborate on a T-shirt with the logo \u201cI Support Black Women\u201d with the money going towards establishing the School for Black Feminist Politics in Washington DC.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to raise about $80,000,\u201d Trinice says. \u201cIt became this global campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Virgil faced criticism around claims of plagiarism and critiques that he didn\u2019t have any originality when it came to his designs. \u201cThere\u2019s been naysayers to Virigil\u2019s career since it started,\u201d says Thom Bettridge.<\/p>\n For example, one of the first shirts Virgil released early in his career simply featured a logo screen printed onto the back of a flannel Ralph Lauren rugby shirt.<\/p>\n However, some claim this criticism can be put down to racism.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if people are honest, most of the criticism based on Virgil\u2019s plagiarism was rooted in racism,\u201d says Bliss Foster. \u201cEven if it\u2019s not that overt, he is getting the brunt of all this frustration in the industry and it is mostly being directed at him as a racial issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Honey Dijon, a DJ who was a friend of Abloh, adds: \u201cThere are lots of designers that are inspired by things that have gone before, but when you\u2019re a person of colour it\u2019s called \u2018stealing,\u2019 when you\u2019re not a person of colour it\u2019s called \u2018inspiration\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Virgil Abloh was always keen to work with and help the people around him, according to the people who knew him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was very accessible as a person, someone who was very generous with his time,\u201d says photographer Tommy Ton. He once even missed an important flight to sign his contract for Louis Vuitton because he wanted to spend more time with the students at a Harvard University event.<\/p>\n Young designers Larry Tchogninou and Samantha Smyser took part in a design programme at the NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center, which had set up a collaboration with Virgil Abloh.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to ask him questions and he replied to them in a really humble way and cared a lot about sharing knowledge with young people,\u201d Larry says.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the programme, Virgil Abloh came in and saw our work and gave us feedback,\u201d Samantha says. \u201cHis presence alone being a black man and reaching the heights of menswear for Louis Vuitton just really opened my eyes to there being no limit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Bliss\"](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/p0d5ynlx.jpg\" "\\"Virgil")
2. He made much more than clothing<\/h2>\n
3. He helped to found a school<\/h2>\n
![\"Trinice\"](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/p0d5ypqm.jpg\" "\\"Virgil")
4. He had his critics<\/h2>\n
![\"Honey\"](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/p0d5yp27.jpg\" "\\"Virgil")
5. He inspired other young designers<\/h2>\n
![\"Larry](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/p0d5ypfq.jpg\" "\\"Virgil")