Virgil Abloh, the first black artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, has died at the age of 41 following a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma.
Abloh had joined the luxury brand in March 2018 and founded the label Off-White, which LVMH took a 60 percent stake in, about five years earlier.
The iconic late designer had sustained an interest in the fashion industry while helping his Ghanaian seamstress mother sew in their Illinois home.
He had no formal fashion training besides his mother's instruction, but went on to become a widely-praised fashion trailblazer whose untimely death has prompted an outpouring of grief from celebrity friends and fashion fans.
He then rose to fame decades later, following his collaboration with rapper Kanye West after the pair had interned together for the LVMH brand Fendi in 2009.
Abloh, who also worked as a DJ and artist, revolutionized the fashion world after being hired by Louis Vuitton which saw fresh, modern designs such as streetwear coming to the catwalk.
'Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom,' Bernard Arnault, the billionaire boss of Louis Vuitton's owner, French fashion conglomerate LVMH, said in a statement Sunday.
Virgil Abloh, who has died of cancer aged 41, was taught to sew by his mother Eunice as a child (pictured with Abloh in left photo), and became a fashion superstar after striking up a friendship with Kanye West in 2009 (Abloh and West are pictured together in Paris in 2018)
Virgil Abloh, the first black artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, has died at the age of 41 following a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma. He is pictured with Gigi Hadid at one of his shows in Paris in summer 2020
Abloh walks through the audience during an Off-White Menswear Spring/Summer 2019 show for Paris Fashion Week
Abloh was born on September 30, 1980 in Rockford, Illinois - near Chicago - to a Ghanaian immigrant mother Eunice, a seamstress, and his father Nee, the manager of a paint company.
From a young age, he would help his mother sew, as he claimed she had taught him the basics of the craft.
He graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in 1998. From there, he went off to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, rather than fashion.
Abloh then completed a master's degree in architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006.
During his time at IIT, he began gaining an interest in fashion while a building had been under construction on campus by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who had helped build runways for Prada.
He had also designed T-shirts and wrote for fashion blog The Brilliance while he was pursuing his degree.
Then in 2009, Abloh met Kanye West while he was working at a screen-printing store.
Abloh had begun 'working' in the industry as he helped his Ghanaian seamstress mother sew in their Illinois home. He is pictured right as a child with family members
Abloh is seen in a childhood photograph with his friends
Abloh stands between his sister Edwina (left) and wife Shannon Abloh (right)
Abloh's wife Shannon at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 with their two children Lowe and Grey
Abloh is pictured with his family
The pair then interned together for Fendi at Rome that same year which is where their professional and personal relationship officially began.
West, or Ye, appointed Abloh as the creative director for his agency Donda in 2010 as well as using his skills to design his album covers for Ye's Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Abloh's work with West then brought him into the limelight and he became one of the most sought out designers in the industry.
He launched his first label Pyrex Vision in 2012 which was meant to represent the significance of youth culture.
The label, however, was later shut down as Abloh did not intend the label to become a commercial enterprise.
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