Abloh-isms

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 2 11/18/20 8:33
 Abloh-isms
Virgil Abloh

Edited by Larry Warsh

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Princeton and Oxford
in association with
No More Rulers

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 Copyright © 2021 LW Archives, Inc.
Virgil Abloh quotations © Virgil Abloh
Princeton University Press is committed to the protection of copyright and the
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No More Rulers
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Abloh, Virgil, 1980- author. | Warsh, Larry, editor.
Title: Abloh-isms / Virgil Abloh; edited by Larry Warsh.
Other titles: Quotations. Selections
Description: Princeton: Princeton University Press in association with
No More Rulers, [2021] | Series: Isms | Includes Bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020037558 | ISBN 9780691213798 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Abloh, Virgil, 1980-
Classification: LCC NK1412.A24 A35 2021 | DDC 746.9/2092—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037558

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Joanna MT
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

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 CONTENTS

I N T RO D U C T I O N v i i

Early Years 1
Influences and Inspirations 9
Streetwear, Fashion, and Design 25
Point of View 53
Methods 65
Making an Impact 87
Art and Creativity 103
SOURCES 123

C H RO N O L O G Y 1 3 1

AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S 1 3 8

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 6 11/18/20 8:33
 INTRODUCTION

Virgil Abloh has operated under many titles:

creative director, fashion designer, DJ, architect,
engineer, and artist, to name a few. But to define
him is to miss the point. Abloh exists in the in-
between, the gray area, challenging and defying
the confines of conventional categorization. He
has invented a world in which the hierarchies
and divisions between fashion, art, music, and
popular culture are no longer relevant. Both a
disruptor and collaborator, Abloh has created the
language that defines modern luxury, and has
enlightened a generation.
The quotes in this book, pulled from more
than fifty interviews, lectures, and other primary
sources, showcase the essence of Abloh’s bril-
liant, sincere, and perceptive mind, addressing

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 themes from his career in fashion and streetwear,
his influences and methods, and his creative
process. From his childhood in the suburbs of
Chicago to his ascension to the role of artistic
director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, Abloh has
proven himself to be one of the most culturally
important figures of our time.
Abloh’s early life placed him at the intersec-
tion of artistic and cultural movements, popular
art and conceptual art. Born in 1980s Chicago,
Abloh was part of the last generation to come
of age pre-internet, and flourished at the center
of DJ, graffiti, hip-hop, and skateboard commu-
nities. Initially pursuing studies in engineering,
Abloh switched gears when inspired by an art
history class, specifically the Renaissance, and
went on to complete a master’s in architecture.
In somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, Abloh
observed our culture pre- and post-internet as

| viii |

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 a new Renaissance, and an early understanding
of the internet and an embrace of social media
became key to Abloh’s rise.
After completing his architecture degree,
Abloh interned at Fendi with his friend and col-
laborator Kanye West, who he had been working
with for nearly ten years, to learn the intricacies
of the world of high fashion. The pair quickly
drew attention, piquing interest at Paris Fashion
Week. Soon after, West hired Abloh as his creative
director, working together toward his vision of
merging rap, contemporary art, and high fash-
ion—an entry point for Abloh into converging
these many worlds at a grand scale. The two
forged a close relationship, with West trusting
Abloh, rather than the label’s art department,
to art direct the cover for his and Jay-Z’s album
Watch the Throne.
Shortly after, Abloh launched his first brand,

| ix |

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 Pyrex Vision, which he shuttered a year later
but which served as an entry point to his next
luxury streetwear label Off-White. Within a
short amount of time, the brand was widely
embraced, worn by Jay-Z, Beyoncé, ASAP Rocky,
and Rihanna, among others. Only five years later,
he was named the artistic director of menswear
at Louis Vuitton, and was the subject of a major
exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Chicago.
Abloh’s work widely embraces intersections,
references, and influences—from Marc Jacobs
and Vanessa Beecroft to Miles Davis, James Brown,
and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He often recounts his
own early aspiration toward luxury brands like
Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton, and his rever-
ence of cultural brands, namely—like most
teenage kids of his generation—Michael Jordan.
Yet Abloh, leveraging social media, has opened

|x|

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 the doors of luxury to previously ignored, but
interested, communities—primarily the Black
community and, well, kids—creating a link
between the culture that loves Jordans and lux-
ury goods, and has yearned to be included in
the narrative, and in the luxury industry itself,
which traditionally wanted little to do with hip-
hop, sneakers, or Black culture. Whereas luxury
brands once held the power in tastemaking,
social media gave power to the voice of popular
opinion, which put Abloh himself in power.
While Abloh is not the first to create value
for a pair of sneakers, he is one of the few who
does it well, rivaled only by the value created in
the art market.Yet industry conversations around
the longevity of streetwear and sneaker products
miss the point of Abloh’s long-term impact. In
fact, the obsession around “what sells” instead
of “what are we selling for” is what made the

| xi |

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 luxury industry ripe for Abloh’s disruption in
the first place. As all parts of the industry now
scramble to get their own grasp on collabora-
tions, sneakers, and streetwear, Abloh will always
hold his place as the shaker that drove new lux-
ury forward.
Yet, as explored in this book, Abloh has spo-
ken against the idea of “new,” stating that it’s
designed to keep people like him out of indus-
tries like luxury. Ironically, the energy that Abloh
brought to luxury fashion is perhaps the most
refreshing the fashion industry has ever wit-
nessed, and in spite of any criticism, this is
where Abloh’s true subversion lies. In reality, tra-
ditional luxury power holders and institutions
were not positioned to understand the wave of
disruption that Abloh was a part of. Many, if not
most, still aren’t.

| xii |

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 Abloh has, in many ways, transcended the
term “disruptor.” Throughout his career, fueled
by his energy to manifest change, he questioned
the foundations of popular culture, inserted his
ideas, and created cataclysmic changes to its
DNA. It is within this transformed environment
that he, and those for whom he has paved the
way, are now able to create. As Abloh himself
states, “The word ‘disruptor’ doesn’t sit well
with me because it’s not articulating exactly
my frame of mind. I stay away from words, I’m
more about actions. Words are often just another
box to be put in.”1 Despite the many boxes in
which he has been placed—fashion designer,
architect, DJ, artist, and, indeed, disruptor—at

1 “The Designer Interview: Virgil Abloh,” Net-a-Porter,

https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-us/porter/article
-56046fbd2262dd7d/fashion/art-of-style
/off-white-virgil-abloh.

| xiii |

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 the core of Abloh’s long-term legacy, the effects
of which we are only beginning to see, is that
he brought true authenticity and openness to
the most exclusive societal mechanism: luxury.

L ARRY W ARSH
N EW Y ORK C ITY
D ECEMBER 2020

| xiv |

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 Abloh-isms

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 16 11/18/20 8:33
 Early Years

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 I’m this African kid, born in a suburban white
neighborhood outside of Chicago, inspired by
Guns n’ Roses and NWA at the same time. (3)

o
I was African and my dad worked on the
docks in shipping logistics and he got the
bright idea to go to Chicago where they were
exporting all these goods. And through sheer
will, he managed to go there, get my mom
there, and have this life for me there. But only
when I was a teenager [returning to Ghana to
visit] did I see this dynamic. Looking down
the street and walking over exposed gutters,
I realized that this is who I am. (11)

|2|

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 My mom was sewing when she was eight
years old, and she still sews today. So I grew
up with her saying, “you don’t buy
clothes, you make the clothes.” (11)

o
I have vivid memories of going back to Ghana
and looking out the window and being super
appreciative—but being, like twelve—like,
what if my dad hadn’t made this one decision
to take this leap of faith to go to this new
country? I would be the kid on the side of the
street in Africa with no clue what was going
on in the rest of the world. (5)

|3|

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 When I was younger, I was into DJing, graffiti,
hip-hop, skateboarding and I love it that now
I can just take my passport and hop on a
plane and go see what’s up with those
scenes everywhere. (27)

o
Being born in 1980 I was part of the last
generation that was pre the internet. Before
the internet made all knowledge easily
accessible, information was guarded, slow,
and very much propped up the gatekeepers
and their rulebooks. (4)

|4|

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 I’d been in a way Americanized: teenager,
1990s, skateboarding. I’m trying to identify
with just being black. (11)

o
Until I was seventeen I didn’t know all that
much. I was my most authentic self—I was
just a sponge. I’m trying to revert to that
point, that point is what I call the
“authentically real.” (3)

o
Sometimes I still feel like the seventeen-year-
old version of myself who didn’t believe I
could be a designer with a capital D. (3)

|5|

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 When I studied engineering at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison, it was
the humanities classes that I had put to the
side that ultimately started me on this path of
thinking about creativity in a much more
cultural context—not designing for design’s
sake, but connecting design to the rhythm
of what’s happening in the world. (38)

o
I took an intro to art history. That’s when the
bulb went off. … My parents weren’t versed
in art. And I thought art was a trophy or a
symbol of wealth. (47)

|6|

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 Kanye and I are brothers for life. We started
on the same mission of being kids from
Chicago trying to push beyond being boxed
in and have music as our only form of
expression to the world. (24)

o
Kanye is my mentor. I think he’s a generation’s
mentor. Before I met him, I wasn’t even
interested in being creative. I thought I was
just going to work some regular job. (27)

|7|

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 I was a kid that was buying streetwear T-shirts.
I was DJing. I was learning graffiti from this
book called Subway Art. These things are what
made my aesthetic. So, I decided not to
forgo those things as I got into my career.
I decided to make a career that celebrated
those exact things. (1)

o
My upbringing included zero art. (3)

|8|

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 Influences and
Inspirations

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 Pick your mentors and understand what
makes their work tick. (30)

o
I’ve come from a specific set of mentors,
everyone from Vanessa Beecroft to George
Condo to Tom Sachs. (37)

o
Marc Jacobs—an American—came along and
made his own articulation of high and low
and somehow broke down the mystique and
the barrier. That’s my North Star. (5)

o
I considered Prada or Gucci or Louis Vuitton
iconic. I loved those brands. I couldn’t afford
them, but I aspired to them. (11)

| 10 |

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 It was during my early days within
architecture school that I was told that an
architect should be a jack-of-all-trades. That
was all I needed to hear. From that point on,
I realized that I did not need to ditch my
love for Wu-Tang, Green Day, Alien Workshop,
and Mies van der Rohe, etc. but proceed
applying them all together. (4)

o
You have to have mentors, dead or alive. …
What most people won’t tell you is that the
people you look up to didn’t invent
it themselves. (30)

| 11 |

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 “New” is a farce to me. It’s a critique
intended to keep people like me out. I’m
not trying to pretend that I’m inventing
something that’s never been seen before.
My work exists because I’m inspired
by the work of others. (3)

o
Any person you can cite—Steve Jobs, Karl
Lagerfeld, Michael Jordan—they are not
common names because they did it nine-to-
five. There are people on Earth that dedicate
themselves to their practice or whatever.
I’ve always been like that. (17)

| 12 |

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 My mentor in the DJ space has been Benji B.
(24)

o
I think one of the greatest contributions
to black art is the invention of two turntables
and a mixer. (2)

o
I used to DJ and get my hands on my dad’s
records—Fela [Kuti] to James Brown to Miles
Davis. I was only into the fashion that
intersected with the niche cultures I was
into—my favorite “fashion” brands were
[skateboard companies like] Alien
Workshop, Santa Cruz, and Droors. (12)

| 13 |

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 A-Trak was my idol and I started out
in turntablism. You know, Roc Raida, Invisibl
Skratch Piklz, Mix Master Mike. My cousin had
a record shop, Deal Real in Soho, and that’s
where Kanye met A-Trak. That’s where I come
from, like any teenager during those years
being interested in music and Technics
1200s and Vestax mixers. (24)

o
The one thing that the world could use
is more role models. (26)

o
My role models are my friends. (40)

| 14 |

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 I’m constantly inspired by my friends and the
people I surround myself with and the cities
that I’m traveling to. All the movements are
made up by my brain trust. None of us sip the
Kool-Aid. We’re all individuals; we’re all critics;
we all look at things from a discerning eye,
and I synthesize those things. (32)

o
Kanye West’s album The Life of Pablo is like a DJ
cheat sheet. It works everywhere, every time. (13)

o
To me, [Kanye West is] this generation’s most
important living artist. Fashion or music or
pop culture, those things aren’t broad enough
terms to encapsulate someone who wakes
up and lives and breathes it. (42)

| 15 |

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 Black influence has created a new ecosystem,
which can grow and support different types
of life that we couldn’t before. (2)

o
I’m not that much of a basketball fan, but
Michael Jordan sort of made me. (8)

o
I think that any guy that’s born around the
year 1980—anywhere around the globe—is
affected by the brand of Michael Jordan. (8)

| 16 |

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 My friend Chris Eaton and I used to be so
obsessed with Jordan that we were drawing
Nike shoes and sending them to Nike.
And Nike would be like, “Oh, we
don’t accept designs.” (12)

o
The aesthetic of skateboarding comes from
not being too informed, and that, to me,
is authenticity. (3)

o
Simply seeing an advertisement will influence
someone to buy, but it also speaks to a much
larger context than that—what
they believe in. (44)

| 17 |

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 The generation in New York City just before
mine was one where the ideology of Pop art
was crashing together with Conceptual art
right at the same time—and they were in turn
building on the legacy of the previous
generation, the legacy of someone like
Duchamp. My generation was able to feed off
all this, stir the pot and mix in the sociological
ramifications of what art is and how it can
break the barrier of high culture and relate
to real life, regular people. (1)

| 18 |

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 I was four years into a five-year engineering
degree, and about to go into structural
engineering when I took an art history
class that blew my mind. (3)

o
Studying the Renaissance completely
rewired my brain. (3)

o
I started getting into the philosophy that
the present—our generation grown up
before and after the internet—may be
a new Renaissance. (1)

| 19 |

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 I love the millennial spirit. They’ll make
an Instagram where they’re Goth, and the
next week they’re dressing Harajuku.
That’s freedom. (5)

o
When I started, I couldn’t beg a fashion writer
to write about my project. But with Instagram,
I took an open-source tool and made it my
magazine. I once said to Kevin [Systrom,
Instagram cofounder], “You made it possible
for me to have a fashion brand without
using the traditional system.” (12)

| 20 |

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 Instagram is a specific moment in time.
It is the vehicle for how we as a global
community share images. This will inevitably
change, but for the moment this is our main
channel to share globally. Some of its moral
complexities are not the fault of the medium
that we use to share. Instead I think it is
how the medium highlights some of our
innate human tendencies that is
sometimes alarming. (4)

o
I went to architecture school not to learn
how to design buildings, but to design
a spoon. (37)

| 21 |

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 Once I started learning the safeguards of
the art and the design worlds and what the
prototypical artist or architect was, I learned
that I needed to—in a way—be subversive,
and to embed in my work the messages of
what an African artist looks like, or what
a black artist looks like. (11)

o
I think increasingly from this point forward,
there are going to be moments and places
where the public is going to interface with
the questions of “What is architecture?”
“What is art?” (11)

| 22 |

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 I was also going into the luxury stores because
to me they were like museums. (11)

o
Critical discourse is important, I love critics.
(3)

o
Bad design inspires me … bad design
makes you stop and question stuff … and
sometimes, bad design might even
be better. (43)

| 23 |

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 I’m exploring the self-endowed freedom to
create. Everyday language, grammar, and my
own personal philosophies are equal territory
to mine as the art canon. (4)

o
I’m not looking towards a new demographic.
I’m looking towards the demographic
I came from. (32)

| 24 |

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 Streetwear, Fashion,
and Design

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 I’m an American black kid in fashion, making
“streetwear”—that streetwear label is put on
me. At first I rejected it, and then I sort of
owned it because I realized that I could
redefine the term. (3)

o
I didn’t make a conscious decision one day
that I wanted to be a designer. (12)

o
I think that fashion should be politically
aware, and anyway I can’t make something
that doesn’t mean something. (3)

| 26 |

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 People want to judge the clothes. But before
that, I had to deliver a message about
humanity. (11)

o
As soon as you put on one garment, it speaks
to your personality. (23)

o
People need to experience what the brand
means for the T-shirt to make sense. (28)

o
The inherent idea that clothes are what
represents you gives us a palette to either be
superficial or very curatorial with taste.
It’s an art form. (23)

| 27 |

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 You’re either playing into fashion or you’re
reverting to it. (23)

o
[Streetwear is] an extension of a way of
thinking about the physical world, and it’s a
way of making. It started from skateboarding,
graffiti, street culture—but over time, it has
risen into a global movement within
young people. (1)

o
Streetwear is a sentiment. (1)

| 28 |

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 [Supreme] is among my favorite brands for its
art direction. It’s connected to culture. The
music playing in there … It’s art direction. It’s
art. You’re barely getting that at a high-fashion
brand. They should be charging me
double for that. (28)

o
My career has been about learning, and
communicating emotion through design. (1)

o
I love fashion; it’s like a petri dish where all
these different ideas converge. (3)

| 29 |

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 What’s there to be insecure about? Life is the
hard part. Fashion isn’t. (10)

o
I have this brand Off-White, only to
tell stories. (30)

o
I decided that Off-White, the name itself,
could be a perfect metaphor for understanding
that things are not so cut-and-dried, nothing
is single source, nothing is black and white.
(38)

| 30 |

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 Fakes don’t bother me. The goal of Off-White
is not to buy Off-White. It’s to know about it.
(47)

o
For me, design is about whatever I find is
worthy to tell a story about. (5)

o
Of course, the history of fashion is important,
but you can’t say this dress that comes down
the runway has relevance to the person …
the homeless person, the regular person
walking to their nine-to-five job. (11)

| 31 |

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 There has to be a conversation between
consumption. I look at it from a generational
perspective. If you ask your grandparents how
many winter coats they have, they may have
two—maximum. If you ask someone in their
thirties, they may have four. If you ask
someone who is seventeen, they
may have six. (34)

o
Luxury fashion sells an image: that’s what we
do. It’s neither authentic nor inauthentic; a
designer is sifting through images so that
people can buy into an idea. (3)

| 32 |

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 One of the true concepts of streetwear is using
whatever means you have to make clothing.
(28)

o
Ultimately, the consumer is more important
than the gatekeeper: that’s why streetwear has
become so popular even in high fashion. (3)

o
There are so many consumers who know
what’s happening in high fashion, but high
fashion looks down at them for not
being worthy. (3)

| 33 |

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 As a fashion designer for an international
luxury brand, you get control of the brand
equity. Being inside of it, through their
internal system, I have the chance to reach
both tourists and purists and to present
my reasoning. (11)

| 34 |

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 In the past generation of high art and high
fashion, it’s like, “Put a wall around it. Put a
layer of mystique around it. Keep it on a really
tall white pedestal. Put a vitrine box under it.”
It’s what a gallery is—a white cube. But what
all these kids have figured out is that what’s
happening outside the cube and on the street,
whether it’s graffiti or real life, is just as valuable
as what’s in there, and it’s about zigzagging
back and forth between the two. (40)

o
Something like luxury doesn’t have to directly
correlate to the European thing or money thing.
I’m making a thing that a kid can consume and
gain knowledge and perspective. (11)

| 35 |

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 Hierarchy is the human trait that gives license
to absurd human behavior with no cause. (4)

o
That’s what fashion, art, architecture—these
hallowed layers, the last to conform—need:
to just be open-minded. (11)

o
I think that’s the success of Off-White.
I haven’t made a distinction between the
design world and the real world—I’ve just
immersed myself in both. (5)

| 36 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 36 11/18/20 8:33

 Does fashion have to be new? What is new
anyway? Does fashion have to be new to be
valid and relevant and important? People often
lob “it’s been done before” as a critique but
without asking themselves those questions.
“Newness” has become the barometer by
which we judge things in fashion. Does
your jacket have three armholes? (3)

o
There are so many clothes that are cool
that are in vintage shops and it’s just about
wearing them. I think that fashion is gonna
go away from buying a boxfresh
something; it’ll be like, hey I’m
gonna go into my archive. (19)

| 37 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 37 11/18/20 8:33

 Fashion was a vehicle for my ideas. When I
started, it was the easiest subway train to
graffiti without a cop in sight. It is only one
communicative device, one soapbox to stand
on and speak from. All the arts have value. I
can’t imagine not scaling the heights of those
that interest me and laying a foundation for
future ideas. We have one life to live. (4)

o
I like that streetwear has a place. (8)

o
Because I came from outside of the fashion
industry, I don’t have the luxury of creating
collections in a traditional way. (5)

| 38 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 38 11/18/20 8:33

 I knew of Fashion with a capital F, as this
thing that happened in far-off places that was
intellectual, high culture, not for me, not for
the masses. I thought of fashion as hard to
describe—and it was supposed to be hard
to describe, because there should be that
barrier for it to feel important. (5)

o
I was very well aware that as a fashion
designer, I was a square peg in a round hole.
It’s like someone who is really messy and tries
to clean their place up to throw a dinner party.
Everything is in order, but then you go to
the bathroom and you’re like, Why is there
a cereal box in the bathtub? (5)

| 39 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 39 11/18/20 8:33

 There’s this insurmountable mountain of
legends that precedes us—this guardianship
that doesn’t allow new to come in. It’s often
an old guard reinforcing the old days. (5)

o
I think [Kendall Jenner, Gigi, and Bella Hadid
and I are] trying to bridge the gap between
the old and the new: They’re recalling the
glory days of the biggest supermodels, but
they’re doing it in the modern way. I’m
trying to do the same thing
with design. (5)

| 40 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 40 11/18/20 8:33

 Fashion is a great industry, but it’s sort of
asserted by an unknown voice. We all know it,
and we all see those that are tuned into it.
But, that’s my motivation, and I actually
believe it doesn’t matter. It’s about an
expression, a sort of feeling of I made
it, or I’m here, I’ve arrived. (8)

o
Ultimately, what I’m trying to do is validate
the genre that I’m put in, which
is streetwear. (22)

| 41 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 41 11/18/20 8:33

 Streetwear is like disco. When it started, disco
was cool but the term didn’t age well, and
neither did the genre. All of us who are
classified as streetwear, it’s up to us how it’s
defined and that’s why I hope the evolution of
Off-White is so apparent. The definition of
Off-White, it’s the grey area between two
concepts, streetwear and “proper” fashion. (22)

o
Fashion is an innovative process. You do it and
you do it again and then you do it again and
then you do it again. That repetition sort of
inspires a new approach every time, so it’s
just trying to become more precise. (8)

| 42 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 42 11/18/20 8:33

 That way of designing—to develop everything
from zero—comes from a different time. (5)

o
In Chicago, there’s always been a relationship
between black culture and luxury brands.
People would do almost anything—even
getting shot—for a jacket, a shoe. So I
developed this pattern that references
Duchamp, Corbusier, Martin Luther King,
Dr. J. I’m using these because I thought that in
fashion, you always use these esoteric, random
things to mark the brand as luxury. And I was
like, instead, “Let these be a gateway. Let
someone be inquisitive and learn.” I thought
high fashion should have more intellect; I
thought that this was an industry where art
could be merged with critical discourse. (11)

o
| 43 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 43 11/18/20 8:33

 There was this message board for the
downtown scene at the time called Splay, and
if you weren’t involved with it, you couldn’t
message on it, you could only view it. But
everyone was on it—A-Ron, Roxy Cottontail,
Leah from Married to the Mob—the whole
Orchard Street retail mafia. (12)

o
Fashion only addresses the small square
footage in someone’s living space, which is
usually the most amount of money per square
inch. You are buying clothes that add up,
but what about the rest of [the]
living environment? (34)

| 44 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 44 11/18/20 8:33

 I’m interested in what the future living space
looks like. You know, from a Le Corbusier
sense—the home is a machine for living—that
framework where a bedroom is just as
much as a kitchen, just as much as a
living room, as a closet. (43)

o
What we do is called design. It’s not limited to
being called “streetwear.” Design-is-design.
The moral of the story is beware of whatever
box you’re labeled as. Challenge it. Defy it.
Do not be defined by it. (18)

| 45 |

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 I decided if “streetwear” was gonna be the
sign of the times I was gonna define it rather
than be defined by it. (19)

o
[Streetwear’s] time will be up. In my mind,
how many more T-shirts can we own, how
many more hoodies, how many sneakers? (19)

o
I would definitely say [streetwear is]
gonna die. (14)

| 46 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 46 11/18/20 8:33

 Right now I think we’re stuck in the ways of
the first generation of streetwear that is based
on exclusivity. That doesn’t matter anymore.
Any kid that wants it doesn’t care if a million
people have it—they still want it. (31)

o
I’m not a fan of people waiting in line and not
getting product. I am generally disinterested
in sneaker culture. Disinterested by the fact
that when a cool sneaker comes out, I have
no idea how to get it. I don’t have the
time to figure it out. (31)

| 47 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 47 11/18/20 8:33

 There are more shoes trying to fill the bigger
demand, but there’s not that same multiplier
of cool creativity that comes from the likes
of Supreme, Palace, Stash, and Futura.
Literally, there’s like five people that are
in their own space that have something
to offer this multiplicity. It went from
100 to 10,000 to 100,000. (31)

o
The scene has transcended the sneaker itself.
(31)

o
The street [is] where you get the relevant
ideas to real people. (46)

| 48 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 48 11/18/20 8:33

 You can go to a job interview in a hoody,
you shouldn’t be hired depending on whether
or not you have the right costume or the
right persona. (45)

o
Clothes are just tools to make a collage about
yourself so that people can understand
what you know. (45)

o
As a designer, you get confronted with the
term of your generation, which you
have no control over. (19)

| 49 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 49 11/18/20 8:33

 A piece of clothing is more important than
the fabric it’s made of—it’s representative, it
means something. (19)

o
I don’t care if my aesthetic creeps into Foot
Locker. It’s my job to come up with the next
idea after that. I want to be in the space that
incubates new design ideas, and then that can
just trickle down into the marketplace. That’s
my approach. It’s like the concept car in an
auto show. It actually doesn’t work as a car,
but it looks like it could and it serves needs
that aren’t practical. I’d like to see that
mentality in all different disciplines, and
sneakers is one where I can particularly
exercise that train of thought. (31)

| 50 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 50 11/18/20 8:33

 That line has been crossed. Enough shirts have
been sold and enough Instagram posts have
changed the ecosystem, so you can’t go back.
(21)

o
What we are actually doing, is showing the
fashion world that American men, let alone
Black Men, know how to really get busy
when it comes to the fashion game.
We can’t be erased. (19)

| 51 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 51 11/18/20 8:33

 Off-White was great for my consciousness
because it gave me my own realm. For all of
my collaborative projects, the unit has a say
but now I have a platform to have an idea,
not second-guess it and share it with the
world. I feel like it has extended my life
because if the world builds up it
could exist long after me. (22)

o
I want to create on the highest platform.
I want to go to the fashion Olympics. (27)

| 52 |

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 Point of View

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 53 11/18/20 8:33

 From my perspective, I’m trying to stand for a
generation. You know, each generation has
designers who go along with it. I think it’s
explicitly the fact that I split my time among
many things that gives me the point of view
to know [what I’m doing is] relevant. (10)

o
I’ve realized that being contradictory is more
authentic than being consistent. (3)

o
In a way I’m still the … kid that thinks that
Nike will never call. (31)

o
I am the same person now as I was in high
school. I like the consistency. (5)

| 54 |

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 I am a little bit too old [to be a millennial],
but I went to enough school to be able to
understand it. I keep myself young—like
a fountain of youth! (9)

o
The only thing I feel like I really am is
an architect. (43)

o
I am inherently linked to the time that I was
born into, a time rooted in contemporary
art and the subcultures of hip-hop,
skateboarding, and graffiti. (4)

o
Where you were born gives you your access
point to make things, or think things. (16)

| 55 |

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 I’m just an assistant to the people that came
before me, trying to add to the design that
goes forward for the next generation
to continue. (45)

o
I came into this being born in America,
identifying with being African. What I look at
in the mirror, what my people look at, is
drastically different from the messaging
I’ve been consuming. (11)

o
African doesn’t equal that you’re a singer,
you’re a basketball player. I come from this
design world. (11)

| 56 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 56 11/18/20 8:33

 I always had in my mind that an architect with
a capital A or a designer with a capital D was
somebody other than me. Those kind of
people never looked like me. (3)

o
Take the ten biggest architects of all time, not
too many of them are black and from Illinois.
(3)

o
Being too consistent is a sham, it’s fairytale,
it’s not real. Human beings are naturally at
odds with themselves. We say one thing, we
feel and do something else. Understanding
that has been super liberating. (3)

| 57 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 57 11/18/20 8:33

 “Diversity” brings to mind people from
different backgrounds holding hands—I say
fuck that. It’s too small minded. I’m not even
into the construct of race—it’s a dead-end for
me. Screw skin color. My generation is all
about irony, about humor and piss-taking. (3)

o
Our generation is rapidly unthreading every
notion that generations in the past agreed
upon. Questions about the environment,
consumerism, value, necessity, health etc.
Plastic is now a curse word. Cigarettes are as
taboo as cocaine. Everything is being
questioned, which I imagine makes a better
time for an artist to introduce new ideas. (4)

| 58 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 58 11/18/20 8:33

 In the years between 2009 and now, a new
consumerism has emerged. (9)

o
No one owns anything anymore. (9)

o
I think [Chicago is] a place where you can
find your voice without having to proclaim that
voice. And there’s a strong sociopolitical
lineage with the huge South Side, which
forced black communities to organize. You
either believe in the doomsday scenario or
you want to effect change, and what we see in
an Obama or an Oprah—that strikes a chord
on the positive side with a number of us
who are from there. (5)

| 59 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 59 11/18/20 8:33

 People like me were marginalized in the
fashion establishment when I started four
years ago. I was on the fringe because what I
was doing was too new, the attitude was like,
“This is not even fashion.” What are you
doing, putting jeans on the runway? (3)

o
Being a black American in Paris fashion,
there’s no context for someone like me, no
path to follow. If I was Japanese, I’d know how
I’d fit into the system, same if I was Belgian or
even American and white. But I don’t know
any other black kid who designs clothes and
shows in Paris, do you? (3)

| 60 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 60 11/18/20 8:33

 I personally feel pretty much in the middle
of all extremes in America. (33)

o
Please treat all races, all humanity in a
respectful way. (33)

o
I’m just an eager kid who looks at every day
as a possibility to make something and leave
a good impact. (17)

o
I’ve never been one that felt like the doors
were closing—I’m an optimist so I don’t
even recognize that, that’s how I got
to where I’m at. (19)

| 61 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 61 11/18/20 8:33

 I [shy] away from giving myself a title but I
do like the idea of picking “creative director.”
(22)

o
I think our generation has learned that more
stuff isn’t necessarily necessary, it’s how we
use and how we attach ourselves to the
things in the world that are important. (15)

o
Evolution is as obvious as it is natural. (4)

| 62 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 62 11/18/20 8:33

 I’m sort of in this midlife phase where
I’m pondering becoming more content sitting
on a couch. As a workaholic, that’s the central
conundrum. I’m sort of absorbing these
milestones in my career, but I’m also
welcoming the idea that, yeah, maybe I don’t
travel so much; maybe I don’t take on as many
projects; maybe I spend more time at home
with my kids. Now that I see what my
trajectory is, who knows? I might be
open to being boring. (5)

| 63 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 63 11/18/20 8:33

 DJing is my only peace of mind. (24)

o
I’ll be DJing after I’m done designing or
doing anything else. (24)

o
I’m just a kid, really. (28)

| 64 |

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 Methods

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 65 11/18/20 8:33

 I use collaboration as a medium to
experiment. (1)

o
The best thing with Off-White is that no
two seasons have to look the same; there’s
no linear continuity. I removed that
from the DNA. (3)

| 66 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 66 11/18/20 8:33

 I often use the phrases Tourist and Purist to
describe my approach to work. The purist
knows everything about art history, every
museum in every country and what’s going
on across the world. And the tourist, in this
context, well they know what a Dookie
chain actually is. (2)

o
When an artwork moves effortlessly from the
tourist pages of the NY Post to the most purist
eyes, then you do have a truly unifying
moment. Those moments come only
when stars align. (4)

| 67 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 67 11/18/20 8:33

 The General Recipe:
1 part desire a.k.a. a reason for existing
1 part provocation of convention—the
unraveling of the accepted facts of the current
time period by a new generation
1 part the notion that an everyday object is
an art object regardless of the context
Stir with a whisk of minimalism that reduces
the sum of all of these parts down to a clear
and transparent final product that
communicates the process of its creation
to the viewer whether they are a tourist
(a newcomer to art elitism) or purist
(seasoned elitist). (4)

| 68 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 68 11/18/20 8:33

 When I started my first brand, I bought
hooded sweatshirts on sale from Champion
and Ralph Lauren, and I added my
logo on top. (3)

o
My door is always open. There’s no hierarchy.
I don’t shut the door and get people to ask
permission to come in. (10)

o
I rebranded my brand with art. (37)

o
I always say, “I love the first ‘no.’ ” That first
“no” gives me the premise for adjusting and
correcting to get to the end goal. (38)

| 69 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 69 11/18/20 8:33

 I’m using the models as people, not just
bodies to make my clothes look good. (10)

o
Work is relaxing to me.
I’m happy making things. (10)

o
I like taking details and swapping them
around. (10)

o
My context is not leaving fashion or doing
anything else. It’s subscribing to four blank
walls, and inserting ideas that represent
my thinking. (37)

| 70 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 70 11/18/20 8:33

 That’s the liberating part about having an art
practice underneath everything that people
may have seen from my body of work. It’s
devoid of commercialism. (1)

o
From the beginning, I approached the
idea of design from a grassroots level.
I removed this idea that it’s somehow
detached from the consumer. (5)

o
I basically work at a feverish pace. (30)

o
I don’t sleep as much as normal people do. (41)

| 71 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 71 11/18/20 8:33

 I do everything with an architectural way
of thinking. (9)

o
I also use my life experiences to inform
the work. Often a conversation or a lunch on
the side of the road can be the most impactful
inspiration of a fashion collection or an
artwork, even more than my degrees
that I obtained twenty years ago. (4)

o
One of the biggest premises in my practice is
that it’s OK to contradict yourself; it’s human.
(5)

| 72 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 72 11/18/20 8:33

 Hard work, good ideas and persistence will
undoubtedly lead to success. (15)

o
In my solo work, the only thing I’m trying to
display is the ideas, my artistic philosophy
and the generation I’m part of. (1)

o
In a world that’s made up of all these different
constructs it’s actually the most authentic and
pure expression when a work ends up in a
space it was made with no regard for. (2)

| 73 |

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 Making the work is important obviously,
but communicating the work is just as
important. It’s how you make people
believe in what you do. (3)

o
I’m working on a vocabulary, an ethos,
I’m not just creating an aesthetic. (3)

o
Logos give you a feeling; they add something
to the object. (3)

o
I would consider myself a logic, which
would be a tier above a logo. (4)

| 74 |

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 I like ready-mades, I make things out of other
things. I like that it forces you to think about
the context of an object, not just the
object itself. (3)

o
I try to find ways to have objects be a conduit
for what I have to say. (4)

o
I consider my practice a modern form
of graffiti. (4)

o
I love the general air of unknowing around
my larger practice. It’s my smokescreen. (4)

| 75 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 75 11/18/20 8:33

 In my practice, by design, I think without
limits. Messages are meant to be traversed. (4)

o
I might be driven by anxiety. As a creative,
you’re always fighting against not having any
ideas. That might be the driver. (7)

o
As a believer in evolution and the breakdown
of barriers, I am using my practice to show
that art conversations break down barriers:
art/not art, high/low, etc. (4)

| 76 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 76 11/18/20 8:33

 In this new era, I often question the validity
of even looking at the period of time when
high-art and mass culture were kept distinctly
separate. The only value that I see in keeping
those worlds distinct is providing economic
benefit, which is fleeting. (4)

o
For me, Off-White is a creative studio,
a recording system of time and culture,
politics and art. (33)

o
Off-White is my blank canvas. (27)

| 77 |

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 If I have a fully charged phone, I can do
anything. (7)

o
Steve Jobs would be psyched, and I run my
life through [my iPhone]. (13)

o
I do believe that, sometimes, when I’m
distracted is when I think of a good idea.
So, you can’t always call it a distraction.
It’s the chaos of life. (7)

| 78 |

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 I base whole collections on a glass of rosé
with a friend or brunch or people-watching at
Café Select [in New York]. That’s my style of
creation. It’s inclusive, not exclusive. (42)

o
I embed myself into a culture. (9)

o
I wanted … to reapproach these iconic
designs in a way that takes the energy of the
historical side and replaces it with something
that a young person can identify with. (9)

o
I think the internet has created a sort of
utopia. I look at it as potential. (9)

| 79 |

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 I regularly use Helvetica in Off-White to
reclaim or reprogram a tangible object. (37)

o
I can ready-make fashion better than fashion
can be projected to me, and that was the
epiphany: to make something in the system
that has different ideals than the system,
to influence change from a
different direction. (11)

| 80 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 80 11/18/20 8:33

 1. watch the news cycle.
2. understand the news cycle.
3. insert idea.
4. see what works.
5. edit idea.
6. insert new idea.
7. live in new world.
(20)

o
I feel like I’m figuring things out, but I don’t
feel accomplished yet. I still feel like I’m
an intern. (12)

| 81 |

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 81 11/18/20 8:33

 I am not the kind of person who is painting
in his studio, of course. But within the
Instagram generation there is no strict rule.
The millennial spirit is: One day you are a
stylist, one day you are an art director. Those
kids are not waiting for a title to explain
who they are. They just do things. (33)

o
We have this thing social media that
we can [use to] communicate and we are
just a world of young people, no longer
just a niche culture in one city of
young people. (45)

| 82 |

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 Kanye wasn’t going to put his art form in the
hands of the art department at the record
label. So he was like, “I am going to hire you,
and let’s literally work on this 24–7,
laptop in hand.” (12)

o
It’s important that I have the ability to
design products that can affect change or
feel like a good contribution to the
world at large. (15)

| 83 |

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 With stamina, there’s a part of your brain that
just wants to shut off. You know when it wants
to, and when you reach that sort of peak, you
realize how much your mind can control
what your body has a capacity to do. You have
to just stare at it, and if you hold that sort of
attention, you realize it falls away. Because
that barrier can’t withstand time. (36)

o
If you have an awesome Instagram, I’ll follow
you, DM you and say, “Hey, do you want a
job?” And if you are self-motivated, you’re
going to get promoted in two seconds
because that’s ultimately the shot I
wanted when I was a kid. (17)

| 84 |

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 Credit doesn’t do anything to me. It literally
has no feedback. I don’t get any gratification. I
don’t read any reviews. It doesn’t matter. (23)

o
If you removed every classification of a
profession, then it becomes about what’s your
type of character. Some people are more
analytical; for some people, it’s about
problem solving. (26)

o
[The quotes are] basically humor. A couple of
people laughed [when I brought up quotes]
and that’s literally the point of that tool. To
insert humanity through conversation … you
open up when you laugh. (30)

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 I can basically design with a keyboard, I don’t
need Photoshop or anything else. (30)

o
I use the means that I have to do what I can.
(31)

o
I choose to make the reality that I see in my
head. (1)

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 Making an Impact

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 87 11/18/20 8:33

 My motivation this whole time has been to
represent for a generation—I’m still thinking
about the kid that couldn’t get into fashion
shows. (19)

o
Young architects can change the world by
not building buildings. (16)

o
I do create some residual noise, but the noise
is like jazz music in the background. It actually
helps me think of new ideas and provocations
based on reactions the work generates, the
question of whether something is considered
good or bad, what is considered design or
not, what is considered art or not. (4)

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 I will probably always have a chip on my
shoulder … thinking I have to defend myself
against non-believers who think my work isn’t
valid. Doing it anyway is one of my main
motivations. (3)

o
That’s what a large part of the constantly
working and never sleeping was about, to
disprove that little voice in my head that
was like, “It’s impossible.” Because that
was almost destructive to me. (5)

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 My project embedded at the core, I’d say, is
humanity and education. We can use design,
we can use trends, we can use brands to share
good ideas to share information. (45)

o
My freedom comes from within. (4)

o
Contemporary news dictates a lot. I want to
reflect the time. Womenswear gives me an
opportunity to be a relevant reflection. To not
speak from the male voice. (47)

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 We were coming off the elections while
I was conceptualizing the collection, and the
women’s marches were happening. Like every
modern person, I’m seeing things on social
media, and I was, like, “This all needs to be
documented in a serious way within
fashion, not just a logo on a T-shirt.” (38)

o
I have a very particular viewpoint on politics.
It is from a young perspective. I feel helpless,
but I realize that I am not helpless if I
raise my voice. (33)

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 I needed to step up to the plate and contribute
something to culture. (23)

o
My work’s main objective is to interrupt the
pre-existing timeline of contemporary art by
challenging its fundamental principles so that
when I’m no longer here, there will be more
room to redefine the arts than when I started.
That’s my own measure of success. Not self-
service but serving the whole instead. (4)

o
I believe that coincidence is key, but
coincidence is energies coming towards each
other. You have to be moving to meet it. (7)

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 You can want to build a spaceship, but you’re
only building a plane. By the time that you
can actually go to space, then you feel
something different emotionally. It makes
you think about things clearly. (8)

o
I don’t believe in titles, I believe in work. (8)

o
The critics and editors at their magazines are
not gonna go anywhere, but underneath
them is a vast set of people who vote
with their money. (3)

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 I am interested in this new cultural world that
we have been handed, that processes politics
and art in a different and democratic way. (9)

o
I take pride in the fact that there’s a kid who’s
living in, you know, Alabama, who never
thought something like this was possible for
him, almost to the point that he made life and
career decisions to find some other thing he
was passionate about. But all of a sudden,
because I’m here, he knows [he can do it too].
That’s why the Harvard lecture exists. I’m not
doing that for myself. I’m doing it to be a
beacon of hope for someone. This is the legacy
of any artist or creative: you want to make
sure that your work makes an impact. (10)

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 Put yourselves in my shoes. It’s super weird
to have this light on me, I’m not that special.
You guys, you have all the resources. You guys
are born at a very awesome, distinct time. I
think this is the renaissance. Don’t get sort of
trapped into this, “Everything sucks, the world
is coming to an end.” That’s just an internal
mechanism basically to chill. When you don’t
have to put yourself out there, you can wake
up every day and come up with excuses.
But … it’s exactly the opposite. (30)

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 I wish that when I was a student, one person
would have given me one ounce of advice that
wasn’t: “The rest of your career will be an
uphill battle.” But instead: “There are all
these shortcuts that you can take.” (6)

o
Part of the reason that I’m here is because I
would go into the [Louis Vuitton] store and
not be able to afford what I wanted. That
aspiration gave me my work ethic. I would go
as far as to say that if Louis Vuitton bags
weren’t as expensive as they are, I wouldn’t
work as hard as I do now. (10)

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 I didn’t see any designer making things that
looked like me. I would be in the stores
buying fashion, I’d be in the stores buying
brands. But it was only once I had the blind
naïveté to start making things and developing
my own language that I was creating
things that I would put on the same
pedestal as brands. (11)

o
I used to try and prove myself to the
naysayers, the critics, to the people who said
that Off-White wasn’t valid or whatever, but
then I realized that those people are powerless
when it comes to the community I’m
speaking to. Now I focus on the legacy
I’ll leave behind. (3)

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 I realized I was measuring myself against the
brands that have huge corporate backing, and
that I could create a brand that could speak
to them eye-to-eye, and then sort of
change the tide. (11)

o
I’m interested in random kids from the
urban city, middle America, black kids into
skateboarding and graffiti, but who want to
participate in fashion, in the art world. In
previous generations, there weren’t that many
people from the same sort of position that
I am, on any sort of scale. I’m trying to inspire
a generation of kids who largely weren’t
taught to believe that you could do these
sorts of things. (32)

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 [Kanye and I] hit these seminal moments
where there’s a change and a shift in the
understanding of what the black projected
image is, and how powerfully it can
be represented. (2)

o
Fashion is in large part perception. Certain
things are placed on certain pedestals just by
committees, you know? My goal is to break
down certain pedestals and put other things
on them and see if they work. (32)

o
I’m looking for something that is open-
minded and modern. Lead us to better
solutions for the future. (15)

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 I’m excited to see what we do in this next
chapter because the strides we made in the
last ten years are too insane. (19)

o
We’ve seen a culture shift. We’ve seen
skateboarding go from an illegal thing to
socially acceptable. We’ve seen hip-hop go
from dangerous to alluring and I saw an
empty seat. No one younger is going to grip
it and rip it. I’m going to do the work. (23)

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 In the time that I’m around, whether it’s
in a cultural position between arts or music
or fashion or something like that I want to
represent the most real—the hands
down most real. (24)

o
Part of my concept is to have a dialogue with
fashion with a capital F. [I have that dialogue]
by nature of showing what’s happening,
what’s modern, and what’s happening
in the streets [and showing it] next to
all the things that we’ve considered
the epitome. (25)

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 We all have to remember it’s how the work
ages[,] not how it’s received now. (4)

o
If everything is more utopian, I don’t know if
art would be better. It might be worse. (27)

o
Only good things happen once you begin. (39)

o
The only failure is not to try. (30)

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 Art and Creativity

h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 103 11/18/20 8:33

 Anyone who has a will to create is an artist.
(37)

o
Unraveling life’s manmade myths at the
earliest age possible is the hard part. Once one
has unraveled the prisons we build around our
own minds and abilities, there is true creative
freedom. After that the world becomes
crystal clear. (4)

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 I grew up thinking images were fact. I now
have the impression that images are like
memories. They are slippery and fluid.
The context of an image like with anything
else can alter its message. (4)

o
In general, my criteria for design is that the
object needs to be relevant; not just for now,
but also for tomorrow. (4)

o
If an object is not desirable, I question its
reason for existing. (4)

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 I love designed “things” or anything made
with a POV. Any art I own gives me tons of
“vibes” at the moment. (13)

o
Authenticity today is something that has roots
or origins in a specific past. (4)

o
In my artwork, my main goal is to redefine
what we consider to be generic, to operate on
the version of the work from the community
that designed the original, which can be a
murky concept in human history. (4)

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 My brand started in the streets and the alleys
of the internet—I come from a different
school of thought about clothing. I understand
people see it as fashion. To me, this is an
art practice. (47)

o
One day, I’d love for someone to refer
to me as an artist. (22)

o
Every medium is equal. (4)

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 The internet has democratized information
and equally the need to actually own. If you
ask me, it is the Wild West for artists to
dictate new modes of operating. (4)

o
The black artist is defining the present,
showing this new form of expression in
an old space that’s never seen anything
like it before. (2)

o
An artwork is a pure idea attached to an
existing rationale. An artwork for the art world
is any idea attached to an invoice. (4)

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 You can’t hide from artists being brands. (1)

o
If you squint your eyes, essentially an artist’s
signature is like a brand. (1)

o
I had a wish list of female voices and Jenny
[Holzer’s] was at the top … because it’s a
nonwavering voice that creates powerful
messages that are also easy to
understand and accept. (38)

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 I was completely inspired by [Jenny Holzer’s]
willingness to work together, which in turn
made the process very invigorating and
precise. We both felt compelled to address
the current political climate, we wanted to
make our point of view center stage, let
people have a moment with our
expressions and to have them exist. (8)

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 “Two heads are better than one” is something
I firmly believe in. Collaboration is what
happens with everyone in my offices and I
believe in extending that outwards. I look for
someone that has an authentic voice that,
together, we could make something that
we couldn’t make individually. (7)

o
Life is collaboration. Where I think art can
be sort of misguided is that it propagates this
idea of itself as a solo love affair—one person,
one idea, no one else involved. (1)

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 I wanted to be an architect. I thought it was
sexy. It checked all my personal boxes, but
then I found that it’s a genre of design which
doesn’t keep up to my pace, and doesn’t offer
the same kind of gratification. When people
try to label what I do and say like “DJ” or
like “architect” or “fashion designer,”
I find it pointless. It’s all just
different sorts of creative. (8)

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 It’s only in the modern sense that everybody
started categorizing: architect/researcher,
interior designer/landscape architect,
industrial designer/painter, graphic
designer … they’re all just terms. you
get titled this and you can do that. you
could be a writer, you could be a painter,
but architecture to me is a term for all
things, holistic design, having
a point of view. (43)

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 It is a myth that creative projects exclusively
get created in a test tube. (4)

o
You don’t have to sit in your studio and throw
a dart and hope that it lands on the bull’s-eye.
If you actually walk up to the dartboard, you
can just place it in the bull’s-eye. (5)

o
I’m always reluctant to be anti-evolution. (31)

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 My art practice is the convergence of all
creative disciplines into one matter. (4)

o
Sometimes you need to rearrange the
furniture in your head. (5)

o
Over-intellectualizing the mundane is my
creative exercise. (4)

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 Your ego does not want to fail, so why would
you put forth your ego? (34)

o
I look at everything I own as an art piece. (37)

o
Irony is a tool for modern creativity … there’s
a reason why we all probably look at 60
memes a day. (16)

o
If we thought of creativity like tech, without
the iPod 1, would we get to the iPhone 7? (30)

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 I like the conundrums: Nothing is fact. (34)

o
I think my personal work is to make [sure]
the everyday things have a design or an
opinion attached to it or done with a
specific point of view. My entry
point is streetwear. (23)

o
I also think of the brain as a muscle. Creative
problem-solving is an exercise—you can’t
simply be noncreative for three months and
then sit in a brainstorm session trying
to merge ideas. (36)

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 I feel like now is a tremendous time in culture.
I feel like it’s the Renaissance. I feel like
Bernini just sculpting away, defining a
moment of enlightenment. (17)

o
What seems preposterous actually becomes
the new norm. (19)

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 I’m just doing it because I like to stay busy
and creative. If I run into someone in a club
or during the day at brunch, I’m always
thinking in my head, “Man, let’s do something
together.” I love developing ideas. Ultimately,
this became my world by accident.
Trying to avoid a day job by having
ideas … 30 ideas a day. (22)

o
You create art so that people can build
on top of it. (35)

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 I create from a point of view of resonance.
I made this, I don’t even know if anyone
bought it, but I know as soon as it left
my idea that it resonates. (23)

o
Perfectionism doesn’t advance anything,
ironically. (30)

o
On one hand I would want to push something
that makes it easier for artists to be artists, but
on the other hand a lot of the time artists
become who they are because they have
something to battle against. (27)

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 You just have to come with a unique
perspective, which is actually simple. Look at
the market, see what’s out there and propose
something that’s a point of difference. (29)

o
Do opposites. It just feels better. (30)

o
We don’t sit around to critique, we create. (27)

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 122 11/18/20 8:33
 SOURCES

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com/features/interview-virgil-abloh-x-sneaker-freaker.
32. Delistraty, Cody. “Virgil Abloh Is Searching for Virgil
Abloh.” Esquire, January 30, 2017. https://www.esquire
.com/style/mens-fashion/a52288/virgil-abloh-profile
-interview/.
33. Marx, Ilona. “Off-White’s Virgil Abloh: ‘Three years ago, no
one could tell, if street fashion would last or not.’ ”
Sportswear International, July 18, 2017. https://www.
sportswear-international.com/news/portrait/Interview
-Off-Whites-Virgil-Abloh-Three-years-ago-no-one-could
-tell-if-street-fashion-would-last-or-not-13537.
34. DeAcetis, Joseph. “Interview: Virgil Abloh’s ‘Democratic
Design.’ ” Forbes, December 2, 2017. https://www.forbes
.com/sites/josephdeacetis/2017/12/02/interview
-virgil-ablohs-democratic-design/#46198f6f127d.

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 35. Bettridge, Thom. “Interview with Virgil Abloh.” 032c, issue
32, Summer 2017. Also appears in Jack Stanley, “Virgil
Abloh Says ‘Snobs & Haters’ Feed His ‘Reference System’ in
‘032c’ Interview.” Hypebeast, June 14, 2017. https://
hypebeast.com/2017/6/032c-virgil-abloh-interview.
36. Bettridge, Thom. “2017: 2:03:32, 2018: 2:01:39: We
Salute Marathon World Record Breaker Eliud Kipchoge.”
032c, September 19, 2017. https://032c.com/
beyond-the-limit-eliud-kipchoge-wins-the-berlin-mara-
thon-and-speaks-with-virgil-abloh.
37. Judah, Hettie. “Exclusive: Interview between Virgil Abloh
and Takashi Murakami.” Numérot, April 4, 2018. https://
www.numero.com/en/art/interview-virgil-abloh-off
-white-takashi-murakami-gagosian-gallery-london
-exhibition-collaboration-art-fashion#_.
38. Trebay, Guy. “Virgil Abloh, the Mixmaster of Fashion.” New
York Times, September 28, 2017. https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/09/28/fashion/virgil-abloh-off-white.html.
39. Payne, Teryn. “Virgil Abloh Talks His Fashion Journey,
Off-White Conception, and Career Advice.” Teen Vogue,
January 31, 2018. https://www.teenvogue.com/story
/virgil-abloh-interview.
40. Graham, Georgia. “Virgil Abloh: Question Everything.”
Office Magazine, December 3, 2018. http://officemagazine
.net/virgil-abloh-question-everything.

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 41. Singer, Olivia. “Virgil Abloh: The Vogue Interview.” Vogue,
March 26, 2018. https://www.vogue.co.uk/article
/virgil-abloh-vogue-interview-april-issue.
42. “When Bazaar Met Virgil Abloh.” Harper’s Bazaar, March 26,
2018. https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/fashion
/virgil-abloh-interview-16106.
43. Neira, Juliana. “Virgil Abloh in Conversation with
designboom.” designboom, December 12, 2018. https://
www.designboom.com/design/
virgil-abloh-interview-spazio-maiocchi-12-12-2018/.
44. McGarrigle, Lia. “Virgil Abloh Is Here to Break Barriers &
Question Everything.” Highsnobiety, December 3, 2018.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/virgil-abloh-interview
-kaleidoscope/.
45. Wong, Kevin. “The Movement That Brought Him to Louis
Vuitton.” Hypebeast, June 12, 2018. https://hypebeast.
com/2018/6/virgil-abloh-interview-hypebeast-magazine.
46. Collins, K. Austin. “How Virgil Abloh Conquered Streetwear
and Took Men’s High Fashion by Storm.” Vanity Fair, August
1, 2018. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/08
/virgil-abloh-louis-vuitton-designer-director.
47. Ferrier, Morwenna. “Kanye West Collaborator Virgil Abloh:
‘My brand started in the alleys of the internet.’ ” Guardian,
March 10, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion
/2018/mar/10/interview-virgil-abloh-fashion-designer
-off-white-princess-diana.

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 130 11/18/20 8:33
 CHRONOLOGY

1980
Virgil Abloh is born in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian
immigrant parents. He immerses himself in skate,
rock and roll, and hip-hop culture, all of which he
will draw on throughout his career.

1998
Abloh deejays as Flat White at festivals, fashion parties,
and rap gigs—even playing opening sets for Travis
Scott.

2002
Graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
Abloh is introduced to Kanye West at the age of twenty-
two and becomes his creative consultant, working on
tour merch, album covers, and set design.

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 2006
Receives a master’s degree in architecture from Illinois
Institute of Technology, where he was introduced to
a curriculum, originally established by Mies van der
Rohe, formed from the notions of Bauhaus, which
enabled Abloh to learn how to converge the fields of
arts, craft, and design. These notions, merged with
contemporary culture, make up his interdisciplinary
practice today.

2009
Abloh and Kanye West intern at Fendi, earning $500 per
month to learn the basics of fashion design.

2010
Officially assumes the role of creative director at Donda,
West’s creative agency.

2011
Abloh art directs the album Watch the Throne by Jay-Z
and West, an achievement that earns him a Grammy

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 nomination. The album cover is designed by Riccardo
Tisci, then the creative director of Givenchy, a role
Abloh was rumored to be up for after Tisci’s depar-
ture in 2017.

2012
Launches Pyrex Vision, his first line of luxury-priced
streetwear, which sets him on the path to creating
Off-White. Also this year, he launches Been Trill with
Matthew Williams of ALYX and Heron Preston, which
is eventually sold and helps fund future projects.

2013
Abloh founds Off-White, which quickly becomes one of
the most sought-after brands in the world, combin-
ing ideas of streetwear, luxury, art, music, and travel.

2014
Launches womenswear for Off-White and begins show-
ing his men’s and women’s collections during Paris
Fashion Week.

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 2015
Abloh’s womenswear operation gains steam when
Beyoncé wears a palm-print sweatshirt with the
word “Nebraska” on it, an homage to Raf Simons’s
Fall 2002 Virginia Creepers collection, in Nicki
Minaj’s video for “Feeling Myself.”
Off-White is nominated as one of the top eight finalists
for the LVMH Prize in Paris.

2016
Abloh is inducted into the BoF 500 “The People Shaping
the Global Fashion Industry” list, and is one of the
top five nominees in the International Urban Luxury
Brand category at the British Fashion Awards.
Also this year, he launches his first furniture collection
“Grey Area” in Milan, Italy, and curates an exhibition
from his furniture collection for Design Miami at
Art Basel.

2017
Abloh drops “The Ten” collaboration with Nike, win-

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 ning Shoe of the Year at the FN Achievement Awards.
The shoes are hailed by many as the best sneakers of
2017.
He is also nominated as one of the top five nominees in
the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent category at
the CFDA Awards, and is selected as a special guest to
show his Spring/Summer 2018 Men’s Off-White c/o
Virgil Abloh Collection in Florence, Italy, during Pitti
Immagine Uomo 92. He also wins the Urban Luxe
Brand Award at the British Fashion Awards.
Abloh works with Ben Kelly on a touring set that was
exhibited at the Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool, Eng-
land) and then at the Somerset House in London.
Abloh also collaborates with Ben Kelly on a new
installation called Ruin, which was displayed at
Store Studios in London.
Delivers lectures at Harvard Graduate School of Design;
Columbia University Graduate School of Architec-
ture, Planning, and Preservation; and the Rhode
Island School of Design.
Wins the International Designer of the Year Award at the
GQ Men of the Year Awards.

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 2018
Abloh is named artistic director of menswear for Louis
Vuitton, the first African American to lead the brand’s
menswear line. He is also named one of Time’s 100
Most Influential People in the World.
Collaborates with Takashi Murakami on exhibitions
at the Gagosian Gallery in London, Paris, and Los
Angeles.
In March, Abloh showcases his exhibition Pay Per View at
Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo.
For the second consecutive year, Abloh wins the Urban
Luxe Brand Award at the British Fashion Awards.
Abloh is also nominated as one of the top five nominees
in the Womenswear Designer of the Year and Mens-
wear Designer of the Year categories at the CFDA
Awards.

2019
Figures of Speech, an artwork-focused retrospective, opens
at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago,
Illinois. The exhibition features new work alongside
unseen works from his past.

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 Also this year, he collaborates with IKEA to design a mix
of everyday lifestyle objects designed to make a state-
ment in a first home.
Abloh is nominated as a top five nominee in the Acces-
sory Designer of the Year and Menswear Designer of
the Year categories at the CFDA Awards.

2020
Abloh showcases his exhibition efflorescence at Galerie
kreo Paris and Galerie kreo London.
From 2019–21 the Figures of Speech exhibition travels
to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; the
Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachu-
setts; and the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New
York.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, my thanks go to Virgil Abloh, to

whom the words and thoughts on these pages belong. It
is an honor be a part of this unique opportunity to show-
case his incredible mind and voice.
My heartfelt thanks to Athiththan Selvendran for his
extraordinary presence and support throughout this proj-
ect, and to Daniel Bellizio for his assistance.
I would also like to acknowledge my friends Lenny
McGurr, Daniel Arsham, and Sky Gellatly, all three of
whom were instrumental to this project, and who gave
me the inspiration to include and connect Virgil with
the ISMs series. Thank you as well to Shi Lei Wang, Nikle
Guzijan, and Pete Brockman.
My sincere appreciation to the entire team at Princeton
University Press, especially Michelle Komie, Christie
Henry, Terri O’Prey, Cathy Slovensky, and Kenneth Guay.
We remain extremely grateful to PUP for their continued
professionalism, encouragement, and passion for our proj-
ects together throughout the years.

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 Very special thanks to Fiona Graham for her invaluable
research and diligent organization of this publication.
Thanks as well to Susan Delson, Enrique Menendez,
and Karl Cyprien for their editorial assistance, and to
Amanda Scoledes and Aemilia Techentin for their sup-
porting research. Thanks also to Franklin Sirmans, and to
Kevin Wong, Keith Estiler, Sarah Sperling, Noah Wunsch,
Vanessa Lee, and Man Hoang.
My sincere thanks to Taliesin Thomas for her amazing
assistance on this and many other projects, and to Steven
Rodríguez and John Pelosi for their continued support.
My thanks as well to Paul Schindler for his support.
Finally, I give all my bottomless gratitude to my amaz-
ing wife, Abbey, and to my wonderful children, Justin,
Ethan, Ellie, and Jonah for their love and encouragement.
As always, I give endless love and thanks to my mother,
Judith.

L ARRY W ARSH

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 Virgil Abloh is an artist, architect, engineer, creative
director, and fashion designer. After earning a degree
in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, he completed a master’s degree in architecture
at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It was here that he
learned not only about design principles but also crafted
the principles of his art practice. He studied a curricu-
lum devised by Mies van der Rohe on a campus he had
designed. Currently he is the artistic director of menswear
at Louis Vuitton and the chief creative director and head
designer of menswear and womenswear concepts titled
Off-White.

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 Larry Warsh has been active in the art world for more
than thirty years as a publisher and artist-collaborator. An
early collector of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat,
Warsh was a lead organizer for the exhibition Basquiat:
The Unknown Notebooks, which debuted at the Brooklyn
Museum, New York, in 2015, and later traveled to sev-
eral American museums. He has loaned artworks by
Haring and Basquiat from his collection to numerous
exhibitions worldwide, and he served as a curatorial
consultant on Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing
Lines for the National Gallery of Victoria. The founder
of Museums Magazine, Warsh has been involved in many
publishing projects and is the editor of several other
titles published by Princeton University Press, including
Basquiat-isms (2019), Haring-isms (2020), Futura-isms (2021),
Abloh-isms (2021), Arsham-isms (2021), Jean-Michel Basquiat:
The Notebooks (2017), and two books by Ai Weiwei, Human-
ity (2018) and Weiwei-isms (2012). Warsh has served on
the board of the Getty Museum Photographs Council and
was a founding member of the Basquiat Authentication
Committee until its dissolution in 2012.

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 ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece: Portrait of Virgil Abloh. Photo by Bogdan
Plakov.
Page 130: Virgil Abloh, American, born 1980, Cotton,
2019, acrylic on canvas, Courtesy of the Gymnastics
Art Institute

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 ISMs
Larry Warsh, Series Editor

The ISMs series distills the voices of an exciting range

of visual artists and designers into captivating, beautifully
made books of quotations for a new generation of read-
ers. In turn passionate, inspiring, humorous, witty, and
challenging, these collections offer powerful statements
on topics ranging from contemporary culture, politics,
and race, to creativity, humanity, and the role of art in the
world. Books in this series are edited by Larry Warsh and
published by Princeton University Press in association
with No More Rulers.

Abloh-isms, Virgil Abloh

Futura-isms, Futura
Haring-isms, Keith Haring
Basquiat-isms, Jean-Michel Basquiat
Weiwei-isms, Ai Weiwei

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h-isms_FINAL pages_11.17.20.indd 144 11/18/20 8:33