Ultimate, world-class luxury fashion house meets the street, millennial visionary.Â
Luxury French fashion house Louis Vuitton recently announced their new menswear designer.
Meet, Virgil Abloh. His name may be new to some of you, but the 37-year old Chicago native is the founder of the fashion label Off-White, founded in 2012 in Milan, Italy.
Abloh has said to have began his brand âin the alleyâs of the internetâ and seeâs fashion as an âart practiceâ.
After mastering Architecture in 2009 at The Illinois Institute of Technology, he interned at Italian luxury fashion-house Fendi (with your favorite rapper Kanye West). Abloh notably created Kanye & Jay-Zâs infamous âWatch The Throneâ album artwork, which has since been cited as one of the most iconic Hip Hop album covers of all time, and earned Abloh a Grammy Nomination for âBest Recording Packageâ.
He then went onto launch âPyrex Visionâ. This was his first label, which has now evolved into the brand you see in your local Barneys, Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nics- âOff Whiteâ. Â
Encompassing hip hop style with haute couture, Off-White was labelled as the new âstreet cultureâ. Indeed, I believe the brand has forged high-end luxury with street-wear fashion. Itâs trenchant, distinctive and totally chic but with a little more edge.
Being a fashion lover (and online-shopping addict) myself, I came to notice Off-White for the first time here in Dubai. Whilst swooning through the handbag section in Harvey Nichols, I was stopped in my tracks when I saw a black leather clutch bag which stated âfor display onlyâ. Off-White definitely stood out to me- make way for the millennial fashion culture!
Abloh has collaborated with many international brands such as Levi, Nike Air Jordan and Jimmy Choo, where he created a unique spin on the classic satin pumps- a collection inspired by the late Princess Diana, certainly still a modern muse, and an inspiration to Abloh. Â
Ablohâs talents do not end there. The creative director is also a DJ, otherwise known as âFLAT WHITEâ. (Yes, like the drink, which we love also). But seriously, he has done some impressive sets, and now, he has the ultimate French elite brand set in his sights...Â
Louis Vuitton was founded in 1854, proving to be one of the worlds oldest luxury brands. Old it may be, but LV is, if not, the most recognisable, valuable brand in the world.
Born in Jura, France, Louis Vuitton left home on foot at the tender age of 13, bound for Paris. And two years later, he arrived. At 16 years old, Vuitton was taken on as an apprentice at Monsieur Marechal, a box-making company.
In 1854, after spending years perfecting his craft, Vuitton left Marechal at age 33, and opened his Louis Vuitton store on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris.  He launched his classic (now emblem embedded) canvas trunks.Â
By 1885 he opened his first store on Oxford Street in London, and began his worldwide takeover after the passing of his father. Need I say, the rest is history.
The ultimate, world class luxury fashion house meets the street, millennial visionary. I am looking forward to seeing how the two worlds collide and what magic it may bring.
Words by Sophia.

















