Virgil Abloh: Streetwear? It’s Definitely Gonna Die

Deep fakes, influencers, viral fashion – we live in a world unrecognisable from the one we stood in ten years ago. As a chaotic decade comes to a close, we’re speaking to the people who helped shape the last ten years and analysing the cultural shifts that have defined them. Explore the decade on our interactive timeline here, or head here to check out all our features. Ten years ago, Virgil Abloh, then working as a creative director for Kanye West, was one of a group photographed outside a Comme des Garçons show in Paris. Their outfits, which included Goyard briefcases, colourful thick-rimmed glasses, and leopard print trousers with cowboy boots, inspired a wave of internet scorn, much of it homophobic. There was even a skit on South Park. In June 2018, I saw some of that same group reunite backstage at Abloh’s debut show as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of menswear. In a video I took, Abloh embraces Ibn Jasper, whose blog about the backlash to the 2009 trip remains online. “What we are actually doing, is showing the fashion world that American men, let alone Black Men, know how to really get busy when it comes to the fashion game,” he wrote. “We can’t be erased,” Abloh says as they hug. He smiles the smile of a man who has fought to be there, an outsider no longer. Read more at Dazed.