Virgil Abloh is the man behind the ultra-popular high-end streetwear brand Off-White and he is also a designer for Louis Vuitton. Abloh rose to prominence thanks to his connections with Kanye West, eventually doing an internship at Fendi with the rapper. Thanks to his cache, Abloh has built up quite the reputation in the fashion community. Considering Abloh is the first African-American to become a Creative Director at Louis Vuitton, the Off-White founder is seen as a trailblazer in his field.
Recently though, Abloh has come under fire after he posted some photos to his Instagram story where he showed off his Italian design team. Abloh simply wanted to praise his employees, calling them a “crazy crazy talented crew of kids.” After posting the images, many people noticed that everyone on the team was white.
This observation led to a conversation on Twitter where people delivered their hot takes, saying Abloh should be hiring more people of color since he is African-American himself. As a pioneer for black designers, his following was disappointed to see the lack of opportunities he is giving to people of color.
One thing the detractors forgot to mention is that this is his Italian design team, so it would make sense that most of the employees are of European descent. It would be interesting to see what his North American design teams look like and whether or not the same criticisms apply.
[Via]