The store became known for carrying a mixture of fashion apparel , and for its reflection of Abloh ' s style on his design for the store interior . A year later , West appointed Abloh the creative director of his creative agency , Donda . In 2012 , Abloh launched his first company , Pyrex Vision . He purchased deadstock clothing from Ralph Lauren for $ 40 , screen-printed designs on them and sold them for prices upward of $ 550 . The stated goal of Pyrex Vision was to represent the importance of youth culture , by centering the designs around a garment that most youth would notice from gym class . Virgil ' s ideas could be clearly geared around the importance of the now . He closed the company down a year later as he did not intend it to be a commercial enterprise , but an artistic experiment . Abloh founded his first fashion house and second business overall in 2013 with the high-end streetwear brand O -White , designing a logo inspired by Ben Kelly . Based in Milan , Italy , the company was described by Abloh as " the gray area between black and white as the color o -white " to investors and fashion critics . By the end of 2018 , an index of sales and consumer sentiment ranked O -White as the hottest label in the world , surpassing Gucci . Virgil also partnered up with the Swedish furniture company IKEA to design furniture for apartments and houses as well as easy to carry tote bags with the word sculpture imprinted in the middle . he collection was named Markerad , which is a Swedish word meaning " clear-cut ; crisp ; pronounced ", and was released in 2019 . Virgil envisioned that the collection would include practical furniture featuring contemporary designs .
In 2017 , he was asked to design a new collection in conjunction with Nike entitled " The Ten " and he redesigned a variety of the company ' s best-selling shoes . During the rise in neo-nationalism in 2017 Abloh worked with conceptual artist Jenny Holzer to create a line emphasizing the positive aspects of immigration , cultural integration , and globalization . In December 2017 , he worked with Holzer again to design T-shirts for Planned Parenthood in response to the Women ' s March on Washington .
During the launch of his brand , he received help from the New Guards Group , who also assisted many other designers and brands , such as Palm Angels , Heron Preston , and Marcelo Burlon . Abloh said his first O -White collection was inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ' s floating glass home , Farnsworth House , and presented it with references to the Baroque artist Caravaggio and the early 20th century German design studio The Bauhaus . The brand lead generated widespread attention for his apparel beginning in Paris , then expanding to China , Tokyo , Japan , and the United States . The clothing line can be identified through its use of quotation marks , zip-ties , capital letters , and barricade tape . He launched the company ' s women ' s wear line in 2014 and showed the collections at Paris Fashion Week . His line was selected as a finalist for the LVMH Prize , an industry award , but lost to Marques ' Almeida and Jacquemus . Abloh launched his first concept store for O -White in Tokyo , Japan , where he started the company ' s furniture arm , Grey Area . Through Abloh ' s re-designing he exercised his self-made rule of only editing the shoes 3 % of the way because he was intrigued by still maintaining the original design of the shoe . On March 25 , 2018 , Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton ' s menswear ready wear line , making him the first person of African descent to lead the brand ' s menswear line , as well as one of the few black designers at the helm of a major French fashion house . Upon his acceptance of the position , he stated , " It is an honor for me to accept this position . I find the heritage and creative integrity of the house are key inspirations and will look to reference them both while drawing parallels to modern times ". In 2019 , Abloh was appointed to the board of directors of The Council of Fashion Designers of America . The council seeks to promote the American fashion industry . Abloh created a custom O -White gown and veil for Hailey Bieber ' s wedding day . On the veil , he included his famous quotation marks design around the words " till death do us part ".
Flashmag ! Issue 124 December 2021
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