Graduation Optional

There is a buzz in the fashion world.

On March 25th, 2018, the popular streetwear designer of fashion label Off-White, Virgil Abloh was named the new artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton. Disruptive and revolutionary, if those words can be applied to fashion, applies to the move, and I applaud it.

Inclusion begets inclusion. When people like Virgil Abloh make it, we should care because when minorities rise to the top, we all rise to the top together. Virgil Abloh is a first generation Ghanaian-American who grew up in Chicago. As a multi-racial and half-black woman, it is inspiring to see a black man in the spotlight of the fashion world. Let’s be honest: The fashion industry has a huge lack of diversity, on and off the runway. Admittedly, this doesn’t make it unique or even unusual—a majority of business sectors in the Western world struggle (or maybe don’t struggle enough) with this problem. Even in an industry where there are endless fashion labels designed for primarily women, the designers behind them are mostly white men.

But that’s what makes the hiring of Abloh so exciting. He is being given the opportunity to use the platform of one of fashion’s most respected houses to showcase his unique voice and talent, which will be represented and heard in an authentic way. For the first time,  a black, immigrant designer’s appointment to the powerhouse that is Louis Vuitton matters.

Abloh’s path to Louis Vuitton was not a traditional one. What he studied in school is not what he does today, and that’s something we can all learn from. He studied civil engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison and architecture at  Illinois Institute of Technology. Abloh is certainly risk-taker: He skipped the majority of his graduation critique to take a meeting with Kanye West’s then manager John Monopoly, which ultimately launched his career and landed himself as the creative director for Kanye West in 2009. Abloh’s first fashion label, Pyrex Vision, was launched in 2012 and consisted of logos screen-printed onto deadstock Champion sweatshirts and Ralph Polo collared shirts, amassing a fast cult following.

A mere year later, Virgil Abloh’s launched his most successful project, Off-White. The high-end streetwear fashion label certainly caught Louis Vuitton’s attention. Three years later, the French juggernaut turned the reigns of its fashion collection over to him.

Virgil’s career illustrates that your college path is not always indicative of your future, which for me is a good thing. I am in my freshman year at NYU and, like many other of my peers, I am anxious about my future career path. I worry whether I am taking the right classes because I need to be taking the résumé-building ones in order to land the future job I want.

There are times when I am uncertain how I am going to break into the fashion world—have I chose the wrong school or selected the wrong major? Abloh’s path to head designer at Off-White and now Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton serves to remind me that my future is not bound by my major. It tells me that the future is flexible and that deviating from the straight-and-narrow is not something to fear. We are taught that we must choose X major so that we can end up in Y career. And as young women, we often underestimate ourselves, not demanding what we really want, or doubting our abilities even when we are recognized for our talent. However, collectively, women have the potential power to let our future be fluid, to adapt to our own talents, to chase what we want—just as Abloh did and still does.

We live in an era in which marginalized voices are often dangerously perceived as the single voice for an entire group, which puts a huge responsibility on those who rise to the top. Virgil Abloh is one of few major black designers to be hired at a major French fashion house—others include Olivier Rousteing, creative director at Balmain, and Ozwald Boateng, menswear designer at Givenchy from 2003-2007. And, to be honest, Olivier Rousteing’s name is the only one I recognized. Abloh represents Black men, Ghanaian-Americans, and immigrants. He has the power to use his position as a way to create avenues and open doors for marginalized voices.

In Virgil Abloh’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection, he used the opportunity to collaborate with critically-acclaimed feminist artist Jenny Holzer in order to shed light on refugee crises. Abloh featured large projections of text produced by Jenny Holzer along the walls of the building. The text that Holzer selected came from excerpts of poetry written by Anna Swirszczynska during the 1944 uprising of Warsaw as well as modern poets from similar Middle Eastern conflicts.  When diverse voices are given the opportunity to create, they produce diverse stories that empower and uplift more diverse and often marginalized people. Abloh’s appointment at Louis Vuitton gives me hope that he will continue to tell the stories of people who need to be heard, which includes immigrants, people of color, and women.

As a multiracial young woman, I am proud to see someone like Virgil Abloh being given such a huge platform at Louis Vuitton. I find that Abloh’s appointment represents a win not just for immigrants, Ghanaian-Americans, and people of color, but also for women because when diverse individuals win, we all win. Empowerment can be found through both representation and ally-ship. As women, we should be celebrating the accomplishments of all voices that have been marginalized, not just our own because through the uplifting of others comes our own uplifting.

By Lola Proctor

NYU Student, cool connoisseur and undercover revolutionary.

Photography by Suzana Holtgrave

Modeling by Lilly and Zoe Viva

Style courtesy of The Fashion Institute of Technology