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Great read....Black man doing his thing.
Group Chat: The Oral History of Virgil Abloh
In 2007, West hired Abloh to help the rapper realize his growing ambitions beyond music. In 2009, West's sneaker collaboration with Louis Vuitton led him and his team to Paris, where they wound up in a squad photo that was parodied mercilessly—first online and then on ‘South Park.’ For Abloh, the ridicule was worth the opportunity. He and West could tell that the party they were crashing was missing something—and that they could provide it.
Taz Arnold (musician and West associate): In June 2008, Kanye and I went to Fashion Week in Paris, just the two of us. We took a lot of pictures with Karl Lagerfeld, and there was such a great response that Kanye was like, “I have to bring more people.” So January 2009 was our second time going. The agenda was really to let our clothes speak for us.
Fonzworth Bentley (West associate): Kanye's perspective was “I've got this Louis Vuitton collection. I'm going over to work on that and go to these shows. Let's treat Paris Fashion Week like the Olympics and we're representing the United States of America.” And we were just bum-rushing all of the shows, daring anybody to ask us to leave.
In 2011, West and Abloh—in a hat from Don C—were front row for a Christopher Kane show in London.
STUART C. WILSON
Don C: I remember Kanye saying, “We're going to look back on this and it's going to be similar to the civil rights movement, because we're standing up to have a voice.” At the time, I was like, “Dude, I can't compare this to Rosa Parks.” But in hindsight, it is comparable, because we've encouraged new people to participate.
https://www.gq.com/story/virgil-abloh-cover-story-spring-2019
Group Chat: The Oral History of Virgil Abloh
In 2007, West hired Abloh to help the rapper realize his growing ambitions beyond music. In 2009, West's sneaker collaboration with Louis Vuitton led him and his team to Paris, where they wound up in a squad photo that was parodied mercilessly—first online and then on ‘South Park.’ For Abloh, the ridicule was worth the opportunity. He and West could tell that the party they were crashing was missing something—and that they could provide it.
Taz Arnold (musician and West associate): In June 2008, Kanye and I went to Fashion Week in Paris, just the two of us. We took a lot of pictures with Karl Lagerfeld, and there was such a great response that Kanye was like, “I have to bring more people.” So January 2009 was our second time going. The agenda was really to let our clothes speak for us.
Fonzworth Bentley (West associate): Kanye's perspective was “I've got this Louis Vuitton collection. I'm going over to work on that and go to these shows. Let's treat Paris Fashion Week like the Olympics and we're representing the United States of America.” And we were just bum-rushing all of the shows, daring anybody to ask us to leave.
In 2011, West and Abloh—in a hat from Don C—were front row for a Christopher Kane show in London.
STUART C. WILSON
Don C: I remember Kanye saying, “We're going to look back on this and it's going to be similar to the civil rights movement, because we're standing up to have a voice.” At the time, I was like, “Dude, I can't compare this to Rosa Parks.” But in hindsight, it is comparable, because we've encouraged new people to participate.
https://www.gq.com/story/virgil-abloh-cover-story-spring-2019
that one of the biggest names in the fashion world is black. Of course I don't agree with his Rosa Parks comparison, but his success definitely could open more doors for other black people/minorities. Maybe it'll lead to brands hiring fewer ignorant Italian dudes who live in a bubble
