BBC: Virgil Abloh, the Louis Vuitton artistic director and founder of the Off-White fashion label, has died from cancer aged 41, it has been announced.
Revealing the news, the French fashion house's parent company LVMH described Abloh as a "genius" and a "visionary".
The US designer came to prominence as Kanye West's creative director but later made history as the first African-American to lead Louis Vuitton.
Abloh is survived by his wife, Shannon, and their two children.
A statement on his Instagram page described him as a "fiercely devoted father, husband, son, brother, and friend".
Abloh was diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma - a rare, aggressive form of cancer - in 2019, but did not make the diagnosis public. » | BBC | Sunday, November 28, 2021
Sous le choc, le monde de la mode réagit au décès de Virgil Abloh, "une belle âme", "un visionnaire" : «Dévasté», «le coeur brisé», «ne pouvant y croire»... Suite à l'annonce, le 28 novembre, du décès du créateur américain Virgil Abloh, à l'âge de 41 ans, des suites d'un cancer, l'industrie de la mode a réagi sur la toile avec beaucoup d'émotion, lui rendant un hommage sincère et appuyé. »
Virgil Abloh, Barrier-Breaking Designer, Is Dead at 41: His expansive approach to design inspired comparisons to artists including Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. For him, clothes were totems of identity. »
