Unique Minds 14: Off-White

I can't talk about off-white without talking about Virgil Abloh- born September 30th, 1980 in Rockford, Illinois. He first graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, getting a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 2002, soon after he began working with Kanye West.

He went on to gain a Master of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006. While studying architecture he visited an under-construction building on campus which was being designed by Rem Koolhaas, this helped him become more involved in fashion: “piqued my interest and opened my gateway into fashion.” And so while studying architecture, he would print t-shirts and write about fashion and design on his blog 'The Brilliance' in his spare time.

He interned at Fendi and was in the same class as Kanye West, which was the basis really for there collaborations in the future. While at Fendi he caught the eye of Louis Vuitton's CEO, Michael Burke, who became interested in Ablohs work. He also became part of many collaborative projects, working with many famous artists and designers, such as Kanye West, Don C, and Jay Z just to name a few. 

In 2012 he started up his first brand called 'Pyrex Vision' he bought some Ralph Lauren flannels on sale for $40, screen printed them and sold them for $550-  this just shows the power of a great vision and good marketing. To Abloh, Pyrex was more of an artistic experiment than a proper fashion company and so he ended it a year later. Off-white ultimately came out of the success of Pyrex, with many of the same core elements being in both brands.

In 2013 Virgil finally started Off-White. Off-white brings urban culture into the high-fashion landscape, which can be seen through the use of zip-ties, heavy uses of graffiti in various designs, the now-iconic use of construction tape, and of-course the heavy use of "quotation marks" which bring a sense of blunt humour to the brand. What Off-white has managed to do in such a small time-span is pretty incredible really, especially because the fashion industry is already such a saturated market. I think what makes Off-white special is that it really embodies urban culture but transforms that culture into something truly high-end. Unlike brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci which have been around for literally hundreds of years and have had to evolve to stay relevant, Off-white was born with today's culture surging through it, as Virgil has lived in it and so knows what this new generation like and want. Most high-end brands start being marketed towards the higher-classes, millionaire businessmen with the ideal lifestyle, but Off-white really has marketed itself to the younger, often less well-off generation. I find this really interesting as most people in this age range won't have the money to buy or wear the brand- but I think this is what makes it so enticing to so many people, it's out of there reach and so its something to aim for almost. It's such a sought after brand that if I ever see anyone wearing it I almost automatically think it's fake, which could be seen as a positive or a negative. 

There are chances to get Off-white at lower prices, however, such as through the Nike collab called 'The Ten' in which Virgil took 10 of Nikes' most influential shoe silhouettes and re-designed them to fit with Off-whites signature style. This was an immense success and I think is why Off-white has risen to the place it has in such a short time. The shoes retail for around $150-200 but on the resell market have been known to go for $1500-2000, showing how much people are willing to pay for a pair of shoes. I honestly don't view the shoes as a piece of fashion really I view them as a piece of art, and I think most of the people that buy them think this way as well. As the line between art and fashion continues to become blurred Off-white really has shown the way forward, and many other brands (looking at you, Louis Vuitton) are probably going to follow suit. 

What I would change: There are lots that I like about Off-white but there definitely are a few things I would change. For example, I would make most of there basic hoodies and t-shirts more interesting and more luxury (more exiting cuts and more luxury materials) in order to at least try and justify the insane price that you can buy them for. An Off-white piece really goes one of two ways for me- it either looks incredible, making me want to buy a piece just to be a part of the brand, or it looks extremely tacky, cheap, and definitely not worth the money. So I would make sure every piece I came up with would be an art-piece first and a piece of clothing second. I think the tacky stuff is mainly marketed to people that only care about the brand name and price tag ("hypebeasts") as most of it includes loud logos and big branding (looks shite lol). If I'm honest most of what Off-white produces is too simple and not unique enough for me to ever justify the price of buying (t-shirts are around £200, hoodies £400+).