Longevity?
- Feb 12, 2024
- 2 min read
As designers longevity is probably one of the hardest things that we can achieve. How long will our ideas, skills or designs last? There are loads of examples of great designers whose designs will last the test of time and I could talk about them all, but today I want to talk about one man... Virgil Abloh:
I talked about his Nike collaborations in my last post but after writing it I wanted to explore the life of the man to understand what made him one of the best luxury streetwear designers to ever live. Let's see if he will have longevity.
For those who haven't heard of Virgil Abloh, he is an American fashion designer who founded the Milan based streetwear company "Off-White". Before Off-White he was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton. However, it was Off-White that allowed Virgil to bring his inspirations and design style to consumers, much like Braun did with Dieter Rams.
The first thing that I found incredibly interesting was the inspiration Virgil took from British industrial graphic design in his work. Just look at the old Glasgow Airport logo and the Off-White logo:
Crazy to think that these two completely different companies share the exact same logo. This isn't a coincidence and examples of industrial graphic design can be seen in loads of Virgil's designs:
So, why would Virgil Abhol use so many examples of industrial graphic design in his own designs? Well, I think it is because of what Off-White makes. Streetwear. Luxury streetwear, but streetwear none the less. The designs look like they belong on the streets because they match their surroundings. It's a bit like a soldier wearing camouflage while in the jungle. It suits the surroundings and makes sense. Off-White's goal is to design for the street instead of making their designs stand out with harsh colours and graphic fonts. However, it is the design's ability to stand out while matching the surroundings that amazes me. All of the designs look wacky and super extra but still maintain a sense of purpose and belonging.
Virgil also thrived by using clearance cloths and re-designing them to give them a new life:
This t-shirt was originally an old Champion tee that was on sale. Virgil added sports team style numbering and naming on the back (using Michael Jordan's iconic 23 number in the design) to make a brand new garment that was completely unique to the original Champion tee. These ended up selling for hundreds of pounds and I believe it was this idea of re-using existing fashion to create something new, unique and interesting for consumers.
So there we go. A little insight into the designs of the great Virgil Abloh. Unfortunately, Virgil passed away last year but his designs will certainly bring him longevity in the world of design.
One of the greats!
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