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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Kerala polls: ‘People rejected 10 years of misrule’, says AICC gen secy
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal on Monday said the Congress-led UDF’s sweeping victory in the Kerala Assembly polls was a clear verdict against the “arrogance”, corruption, and nepotism of the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
Addressing a press conference as counting of votes for all 140 Assembly constituencies neared completion, Venugopal said the outcome reflected public anger against what he termed “10 years of misrule” by the Left government.
He claimed that Vijayan’s victory in his home constituency, Dharmadam, was “only technical”, alleging that the CM trailed the UDF candidate in the initial rounds of counting and failed to secure a majority in his own village.
“He just escaped. He suffered a setback even in his home turf. He was the only person who did not realise the people’s mood in this election,” Venugopal said.
Alleging that the CPI(M) and the LDF had resorted to “communal and opportunistic politics”, he further claimed that the ruling front had entered into a “secret understanding” with the BJP in a bid to retain power for a third consecutive term.
He said that when a government driven by power and arrogance attempts to align with anyone to stay in office, even its own cadre turns against it.
Referring to the results, Venugopal said that while the UDF expected rebel CPI(M) leaders, including K Kunhikrishnan in Payyannur, to impact the vote share, their victories came as a surprise.
Describing the UDF’s performance as a “historic victory”, he attributed it to coordinated teamwork, grassroots mobilisation, and the dedication of party workers, adding that the alliance accepted the mandate “with humility”.
Venugopal also credited Rahul Gandhi’s campaign guarantees, calling them a “trump card” that helped voters focus on real issues and reject what he described as the LDF’s “false narratives”.
He claimed that the Congress witnessed one of its lowest levels of rebellion in this election, which contributed to the alliance’s strong performance.
The senior Congress leader further alleged that the BJP managed to win two seats with the help of the CPI(M), and asserted that forces attempting to divide society on communal lines should “learn a lesson” from Kerala’s verdict.
“This is the real Kerala story,” he said.
On the question of the next Chief Minister, Venugopal said the party leadership would decide at the earliest after due consultations.
The counting of votes began on Monday morning for all 140 Assembly constituencies in Kerala, where the Congress-led UDF secured a decisive majority, defeating the CPI(M)-led LDF, which was seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term in office.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) posts, "Thank you to my brothers and sisters in Keralam for a truly decisive mandate. Congratulations to every UDF leader and worker for a hard-fought, well-run campaign. As I said before, Keralam has the talent, Keralam has the potential… pic.twitter.com/6T4IZbEmp4
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 4, 2026
