Who sets the trends?

Who defines what is and isn’t fashion? Or what is and isn’t luxury?

The people, that’s who. And Virgil Abloh understood how fashion fed the people’s need to be seen and belong. Especially in an industry where not all people were represented.

Creative entrepreneur and designer, Virgil Abloh, set out to buck the system by proving that street-wear, black culture, and luxury go hand in hand. His first brand, Pyrex Vision, was a fusion of two American dreams and played into the stereotype that only athletes and dope dealers make it out of the hood.By using the name of a container used to whip up product and screen printing the number of his favorite basketball player on some Ralph Lauren shirts, Abloh created a new form of design that spoke to a subculture luxury fashion was overlooking. He added a price point to match, selling these shirts at about $500 a piece. Abloh had already defied two stereotypes, making it out by using his wits and what luxury really looked like.

After finishing grad school for engineering, Abloh was recruited by Kayne West as a part of his creative team. The eclectic visionary was just the right person to usher in new designs and concepts not only for Kayne’s album covers but in fashion as well. In fact, in 2009, at Paris fashion week, the picture seen round the world was taken as a statement of the movement that Virgil and Kanye were starting. The motley crew seen in that photo,attended with the goal to disrupt, which can even be seen in the bold, yet clashing styles in the photo. Virgil described it as “...writing ourselves into history.” After he and Kanye did a brief internship at Fendi, Virgil returned home even more focused on making sure black creators in the fashion industry were seen as valuable and a force to be reckoned with.

After a year of Pyrex Vision creating a buzz, Abloh changed the name to Off-White. A statement within itself that represented the gray areas between black and white in the fashion world. A world that because of his artistic vision, skin color and strong ties to the urban community, Virgil was locked out of. Well more so, attempts to keep him out were being made. But it was too late. In an industry that had been predominantly gate kept by one group of people and where luxury was only associated with staple European brands, Virgil had bust through. The people had spoken. Through multiple collabs, being recruited by fellow creative genius, Kanye West, and standing firm in his belief that black people weren’t meant to be boxed in; Abloh changed how the fashion industry saw streetwear. He had accomplished his goals of Off-white being a luxury brand, and showing that streetwear always had a rightful place in the world of luxury fashion.

The once slept-on fashion intern went on to become the first African American artistic director of LVMH. As a DJ, painter, sculptor, university lecturer, multiple albums creative director, engineer, collaborator, and designer, Virgil Abloh was a modern day Renaissance man. A visionary and someone who could never be defined by only one label.

For creative entrepreneurs, it's not always about playing the game but changing it instead.

Are you changing the game, like Virgil in your field? Sound off in the comments below.