How did Virgil Abloh, a streetwear loving Black kid from the outskirts of Chicago with no formal training in fashion, become an artistic director at Louis Vuitton, the world's largest luxury brand?
That's the question Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Robin Givhan explores in her new book, Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh, about the late fashion designer.
Abloh died in 2021 at age 41 from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Before his death, he helped elevate streetwear and redefined what luxury could look like. After Abloh's death, Grammy-winning producer and singer Pharrell Williams was named his successor in 2023.
He first developed a following while working as an assistant to rapper Kanye West. He later founded the high-end clothing brands Off-White and Pyrex Vision.
"What he did that was so unusual is normally a company starts out with a garment and they build a brand around the garment," Givhan told NPR's Michel Martin. "Virgil created a brand and then he proceeded to put products underneath the brand."
Givhan added, "he was able to kind of inject meaning into those products. And it made the people who purchased the products feel seen and feel like their perspective about what was valuable, what was beautiful was being heard at the highest levels."
Givhan spoke with Morning Edition about how Abloh reshaped the fashion industry.
This interview transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Michel Martin: Was he kind of the precursor of the celebrity brand in some way? Creating a sense of belonging through wearing a garment?
Robin Givhan: I think in some ways he was even better than a celebrity brand. I mean, he was known because he had been an assistant for Kanye West. He was known because he had such an enormous social media presence and because he deejayed. But he wasn't really sort of the classic celebrity. And still he was able to