The dancer Cartier Williams opened the fall 2020 Off-White men’s show wearing a T-shirt printed with the words “I support young black businesses.” Virgil Abloh is now doubling down on that message. He’s stamped the phrase on a pair of gloves seen in his new pre-spring collection, and more important, last week he announced the Virgil Abloh™“Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, for students of academic promise of Black, African American, or African descent. “To me,” he says, “that’s just as, if not more important than dropping new clothes. The role of the designer these days should be—and is—different.”
Having taken some internet heat for what was deemed a too-small donation to a bail fund amidst the Black Lives Matter protests of early June, Abloh is resolutely forward-looking. “To fundraise a million dollars, it’s harder to do that than a collection. I’m super happy.” He also pointed out that he worked with the young Black British stylist Ib Kamara on both the men’s and women’s Off-White offerings. “I think he’s going to have a generational impact,” Abloh says of the stylist, with whom he’s also collaborating at Louis Vuitton. The designer is hopeful that it becomes a long-running partnership, say, along the lines of Tom Ford and Carine Roitfeld.
Off-White’s resort season news is that the men’s and women’s collections are now being developed in one studio. “They used to happen on different paces; now they’re in sync,” Abloh explains. That comes through in the lookbooks. Across genders, there’s an emphasis on sharp tailoring. Some of the women’s pantsuits are boldly colorblocked; a red-and-fuchsia combination looks particularly strong. Abloh cut the formality of the men’s tailoring with playful touches, like the little devils that crawl up trouser legs. Alternately, he’ll layer a photo-print bomber over a jacket or a canvas vest underneath.
“I thought of this muse, sort of half businessman, half youthful teenager—and how they can crash together,” Abloh says, reflecting, “I look at Off-White as my diary. It’s a clothing brand that is periodically checking in on what we’re learning and trying to put that in the collection.” Such receptivity will be a critical quality as we move forward in our changed world.
