A Letter to Virgil

Dear Virgil Abloh,

I wish this was a letter I could actually send you. Maybe it would end up somewhere between sketches, playlists, and the endless ideas you always seemed to have. But since it can’t, this is just my way of saying thank you.

Not just for the clothes, and not even just for the moment you became the menswear artistic director at Louis Vuitton. What I’m really thankful for is the way you helped people see culture differently. You showed the world that the things so many of us grow up loving, music, sneakers, street style, graphics, aren’t small or unserious. They’re art.

For a long time, fashion felt like a world that wasn’t built with people like us in mind. At the same time, Black culture was constantly shaping what the world actually looked like. The influence was obvious, but the recognition didn’t always follow. You saw that clearly. And instead of trying to separate street culture from luxury, you treated them like they belonged in the same conversation. When you created Off-White, it felt like you were translating something that had always been there. Suddenly the visual language that came from street culture, bold graphics, sneakers, industrial details, was standing confidently in spaces that once acted like it didn’t belong. You didn’t ask permission to bring that energy into fashion. You just did it.

One thing you said that really stays with people is that everything you created was for the seventeen-year-old version of yourself. I think that’s why your work resonated with so many people. It reminded us that the things we care about when we’re young, the music, the clothes, the creativity we grow up around, aren’t things we have to abandon to be taken seriously.For a lot of young creatives, especially young Black creatives, seeing your success meant something powerful. It showed that the culture we come from already has value, even if institutions take time to recognize it.

So this letter is really just a thank you.

Thank you for believing that creativity rooted in everyday life, music, and community deserved a place in spaces that once felt unreachable. And thank you for reminding a whole generation of artists, designers, and dreamers that the culture they come from already has value.

Even if the world takes a little time to catch up.

With admiration and gratitude.