The Virgil Abloh Backlash

In 2018, when Louis Vuitton named Virgil Abloh as its men’s wear artistic director, it made Mr. Abloh, the founder of Off-White, a Nike collaborator and the former creative director for Kanye West, one of the first black designers at the top of a French heritage house. The appointment was seen as the dawn of a new era and a move by an industry that had long struggled to face its racism. Rather than merely appropriating or pillaging the traditions of black culture, it was acknowledging the truth. Mr. Abloh was initially cheered as a pioneer and a symbol of progress, and held up by many as a role model. “To show a younger generation that there is no one way anyone in this kind of position has to look is a fantastically modern spirit in which to start,” he said. Read more at The New York Times.