Before Virgil Abloh, There Was Ozwald Boateng

When LVMH announced Virgil Abloh would succeed Kim Jones as its new artistic director, Twitter users were quick to call Abloh’s appointment “special” because he was a Black man picked to run a French fashion house. Some incorrectly report that he’s the first Black man to do so. Others have mentioned Abloh in succession with the Black men who have come before him — Olivier Rousteing at Balmain and Ozwald Boateng, who was the creative director at Givenchy from 2003 to 2007 — or as an outsider who comes from the streetwear realm in an effort to attract a younger clientele. But while Rousteing and his Balmain army are some of fashion industry’s favourite people to celebrate, the same industry has largely forgotten Boateng. Read more at Refinery29.