We explore why taking a stand on what matters in our turbulent world is an imperative for storytelling in our cause campaigns today.

With the recent passing of design icon Virgil Abloh, a prominent force and creative director celebrated in 2019 by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, one of BrandStories’ clients, we remember Abloh’s rise and creative output through music, art, and fashion.

Born in Rockford, Illinois, to parents who had immigrated from Ghana, he became widely known and globally-heralded for his output and genre-bending perspectives, and belief that design was a language that allowed him to communicate complex ideas to the world.

Vogue Magazine: “Virgil democratized luxury, and redefined it with his Off-White brand.”

At his label Off-White, in Milan, and as creative director at Louis Vuitton, he completed a lifetime of work less than a decade – and became known for adding giant Xs and diagonal stripes to clothing, so as to make them un-mistakeable across social media, and he also added prominent zip ties to shoes.

But what impressed us the most here at BrandStories was much more profound: his use of design as a form of narrative change. He used quotation marks (and visually-dominant ‘air quotes’), for example, to recontextualize and question everyday concepts: he designed a paper IKEA bag, for example, and adorned it with the word “Sculpture” and made it clear that creating good art and luxury design didn’t mean it had to be expensive, nor exclusively for white-minded elites.

Throughout his career, he also chose to center the experiences of Black people.

A series of Louis Vuitton varsity jackets are splashed with quotes form Martin Luther King, Jr., and a patch representing the continent of Africa.

And as a maker, he sought to add whimsy, too —to bust pretension— in his bid to redefine luxury. He realized that today, technology is enabling artistic and creative endeavors by enabling far more people, including those traditionally marginalized and/or underserved, with a variety of tools to express themselves creatively. He took great pride in his ability to share, display and connect with potential audiences and patrons, many who felt culturally or generationally different and were demanding to be better understood.

Here’s a video for Vuitton that he made during the darkest days of COVID and now, as we’ve learned, during his losing battle with cancer.

RIP, Virgil. You added whimsy during a difficult time for the planet, democratized luxury, and changed the story of fashion, itself, in the process—for all, and for the better.