STYLE AND GRACE
Pioneering fashion star Abloh, 41, dies of cancer
Fashion designer Virgil Abloh, a trailblazing artist who founded Louis Vuitton’s OffWhite label, died on Sunday after a twoyear battle with cancer, the French fashion house announced. He was 41.
Abloh had been privately battling cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, ever since he was diagnosed with it in 2019, said parent company LVMH.
“We are all shocked after this terrible news,” CEO Bernard Arnault said in a statement on Twitter. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom.
“The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother, or their friend.”
Abloh was named LVMH’s menswear line creative director in 2018, becoming the first black designer to hold that role at the luxury fashion house.
He was known for designing wardrobes for A-listers including Kanye West and Kid Cudi, and scores of celebrities paid tribute to him on Sunday
“Virgil, I am lost for words,” fashion designer Donatella Versace wrote on Instagram.
“The world has lost a fashion superstar,” she wrote. “A creator for the history books. I am thinking of all your loved ones on this tragic day.”
Hailey Baldwin told Glamour magazine that Abloh “completely changed the way I looked at street style and fashion.”
“I will never be able to fully express how grateful I am to have known him and worked with him, from walking on his runway to having him design my wedding dress and all the other amazing moments in between,” she said.
“My heart is broken,” singer/songwriter Pharrell Williams tweeted.
“Virgil you were a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius,” Williams wrote. “Your work as a human and your work as a spiritual being will live forever.”
Meanwhile, former soccer star David Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl and model Victoria Beckham, both offered condolences.
“A true inspiration in so many ways,” Victoria Beckham wrote on Instagram. Rest in peace @virgilabloh. Sending love and light to your beautiful family.”
According to a post on Abloh’s Instagram account, the designer is survived by his wife, Shannon, and his two children, Lowe and Grey Abloh, as well as his sister and his parents.