Fashion designer Virgil Abloh passes away at 41 due to cancer
New York, Nov 29: Virgil Abloh, a leading designer whose groundbreaking fusions of streetwear and high couture made him one of the most celebrated tastemakers in fashion and beyond, has passed away due to cancer. He was 41.
Abloh's death was announced Sunday by the luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Mo t Hennessy) and Abloh's own Off-White label, which he founded in 2013. Abloh was the artistic director for Louis Vuitton's menswear, but his ubiquitous, consumer-friendly presence in culture was wide-ranging and dynamic. Some compared him to Jeff Koons. Others hailed him as his generation's Karl Lagerfeld.
We are all shocked after this terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom, Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, said in a statement.
A statement from Abloh's family on the designer's Instagram account said Abloh was diagnosed two years ago with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer in which a tumor occurs in the heart.
He chose to endure his battle privately since his diagnosis in 2019, undergoing numerous challenging treatments, all while helming several significant institutions that span fashion, art, and culture, the statement read.
In 2018, Abloh became the first Black artistic director of men's wear at Louis Vuitton in the French design house's storied history. A first generation Ghanaian American whose seamstress mother taught him to sew, Abloh had no formal fashion training but had a degree in engineering and a master's in architecture.
Abloh, who grew up in Rockford, Illinois, outside of Chicago, was often referred to as a Renaissance man in the fashion world. He moonlighted as a DJ. But in a short time, he emerged as one of fashion's most heralded designers. Abloh called himself a maker. He was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in 2018.
In 2009, Abloh met Kanye West now called Ye while he was working at a screen-printing store. After he and Ye interned together at the LVMH brand Fendi, Abloh was Ye's creative director. Abloh was art director for the 2011 Ye-Jay-Z album Watch the Throne, for which Abloh was nominated for a Grammy.
Abloh's work with West served as a blueprint for future border-crossing collaborations that married high and low. With Nike, he partnered his Off-White label for a line of frenzy-inducing sneakers remixed with a variety of styles and Helvetica fonts. Abloh also designed furniture for IKEA, refillable bottles for Evian and Big Mac cartons for McDonald's. His work was exhibited at the Louvre, the Gagosian and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
Abloh's death stunned the entertainment world. Actor Riz Ahmed said on Twitter that Abloh stretched culture and changed the game. Fashion designer Jeff Staple wrote, You taught us all how to dream. Pharrell Williams called Abloh a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius.
Abloh took what he called a 3% approach to fashion that a new design could be created by changing an original by 3%. Critics said Abloh was more brilliant at repackaging than creating something new. But Abloh's style was also self-aware quotation marks were a trademark label for him and high-minded.
Streetwear in my mind is linked to Duchamp, Abloh told the New Yorker in 2019. It's this idea of the readymade. I'm talking Lower East Side, New York. It's like hip-hop. It's sampling. I take James Brown, I chop it up, I make a new song."
Stars lined up to be dressed by Abloh. Beyonc , Michael B. Jordan, Kim Kardashian West, Timoth e Chalamet and Serena Williams have worn his clothes.
Abloh's Off-White label, which LVMH acquired a majority stake in earlier this year, made him an arbiter of cool. But his appointment at Louis Vuitton brought Abloh to the apex of an industry he was once a scrappy outsider in and made Abloh one of the most powerful Black executives in a historically closed fashion world.
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EC meets representatives of political parties in West Bengal; maximum two-phase polling sought
Kolkata (PTI): Representatives of various political parties in West Bengal met the full bench of the Election Commission on Monday, and several of them sought a maximum of two-phase polling for the upcoming assembly elections, a senior official said.
Representatives of the TMC, BJP, CPI(M), Congress, AAP, NPP and Forward Bloc, among others, met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who was accompanied by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, and West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal at a hotel in New Town near Kolkata.
"A wide range of issues concerning the conduct of elections in the state were discussed. Several parties suggested that the elections be held in one or two phases and assured their cooperation in ensuring that the polls remain peaceful," the EC official said.
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The parties urged the EC to take stringent measures to curb the activities of anti-social elements and prevent intimidation of voters during the elections, he said.
"They emphasised the need for strong security arrangements, including deployment of Central Armed Police Forces in adequate numbers, to curb violence and ensure that voters can cast their ballots without fear," he said.
Some parties also raised concerns about the possible use of crude bombs, illegal firearms and money or muscle power during the elections, he added.
During the meeting, the CEC assured the parties that elections are conducted strictly in accordance with the law and all necessary steps would be taken to ensure a free, fair and transparent election in the state, the official said.
"The Election Commission has zero tolerance towards violence. We will not leave any stone unturned in ensuring impartial, transparent and peaceful elections," Kumar told the pre-poll consultation meeting, according to the official.
He also reiterated that the SIR exercise had been conducted in a transparent and unbiased manner, stating that Forms 6, 7 and 8 can still be filed for inclusion, deletion or correction of entries in the electoral rolls.
