Elevated and luxury streetwear brands are on the come-up and Virgil Abloh is king. From establishing his luxury streetwear brand Off-White, to being named artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear, Abloh has been bringing the concept of elevated streetwear to life for almost fifteen years.
So it only makes sense that his trajectory is skyrocketing—and this past month alone is almost all the evidence you need.
He opened Paris Fashion Week with his Laboratory of Fun Fall 2021 Ready-To-Wear collection and then opened the Off-White flagship store in Paris that same week. Today, Abloh announced that LMVH has officially acquired 60 percent of Off-White, marking a new era of the brand—giving Abloh “full range” of the luxury conglomerate’s services and avenues, including ventures outside of the fashion industry.
Abloh told WWD that his “eyes have always been wide in terms of the fashion, arts and culture and how they can merge together.” With that in mind, the acquisition can lead to Abloh expanding Off-White across the other branches where LMVH has a significant foothold.
Because Off-White is wholly different from the other brands under the LMVH house, the collaboration between Abloh and the other directors will be working to “[invent] new business models as [they] go.” He expressed he wants Off-White to be a generational brand, and partnering with LMVH in this capacity makes that possible.
