How much is Virgil Abloh worth?
Virgil Abloh is one of the biggest names in fashion. A man with an evergrowing and increasingly impressive CV. One who has been able to establish himself as one of the premier designers in the world. He has been able to achieve this through hard work and dedication to the craft. As well as his long-standing friendship with Kanye West, which Virgil himself has attributed to helping elevate his career trajectory. Virgil Abloh’s rise has been nothing short of breathtaking, but the question on everyone’s lips is what Virgil Abloh Net Worth is in 2019?
Finding a definitive answer to the question has proved more difficult than one would perhaps first assume. We do not have the luxury of a Forbes article highlighting exact numbers for Abloh. As they had recently done for Kanye West, reporting his net worth to be $240 million. Instead, when it comes to Virgil Abloh’s financial situation there is a great deal more conjecture surrounding the figures. As of 2019, the number has been estimated at a low of $4 million and a high of $14 million. All we do know is, Virgil Abloh collects multiple pay cheques annually from a variety of employers. While still maintaining a majority ownership stake in his Off-White brand.
Virgil Abloh Career Timeline
Early Promise
Virgil Abloh’s professional life began in 2002. While still studying for his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. When it was rumoured that on the day of his graduation he skipped his final critique to attend a meeting with Kanye West’s then-manager John Monopoly. Thus planting the seed which eventually grew into a fully-fledged friendship and professional relationship between the two Chicago-born design prodigies. Shortly after the pair began collaborating.
4 years later in 2006. Virgil Abloh completed his master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Furthering his understanding of shape which he would go on to sight for years as his main asset in the world of design. It wasn’t until 2009 however, that these talents truly began to be showcased. As Abloh and now close friend West became interns at Fendi in Rome. This was their first inroad into the upper echelons of the fashion industry, and they were determined to make a strong impression. Later that same year Abloh and West alongside a crew of famous friends attended Paris Fashion Week, turning heads in the process. Most notable for the now-infamous photo from outside the Comme des Garçons show.
“We were a generation that was interested in fashion and weren’t supposed to be there. We saw this as our chance to participate and make current culture. In a lot of ways, it felt like we were bringing more excitement than the industry was.”
Virgil Abloh
First taste of success
The following year in 2010 Kanye West appointed Abloh as the Creative Director at DONDA, West’s creative agency. As a result, Abloh began working closely with West on a number of projects that were in years to come set to define the careers of the pair. By 2011, Abloh was directing the album Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and West, an achievement that earns him a Grammy nomination. Then by 2012, he had launched his first brand Pyrex Vision. Simply purchasing deadstock Ralph Lauren flannel shirts for $40 each. Then screen printed them with the word Pyrex and the number 23, a homage to his childhood hero, Michael Jordan. Selling for $550 each.
By 2013 Abloh was done with Pyrex and founds Off-White. Based in Milan, Abloh looked to combined ideas of streetwear, luxury, art, music, and travel. Defining the brand simply as, “the grey area between black and white as the colour Off-White.” Launching his first collections at the 2014 Paris Fashion Week.
Establishing himself
2015 was the year that Off-White really took off. Thanks in no small part to Beyoncé. Wearing a palm-print sweatshirt with the word Nebraska on it from Abloh’s womenswear collection. A homage to Raf Simons’s Fall 2002 Virginia Creepers collection, in Nicki Minaj’s video for “Feeling Myself.” While that same year, Off-White is named a finalist for the LVMH Prize, sadly, however, doesn’t win.
In 2016 Abloh opens his first concept store in the Aoyama area of Tokyo. Featuring a watercooler with Off-White branded cups that visitors take for free and resell on the secondary market. While later in the year Abloh also debuts his Grey Area furniture collection in Milan, his first furniture venture under the Off-White brand.
Mainstream success
It was in 2017, that his ideas really began to take off, and he signed a contract to collaborate with footwear monolith, Nike. In a collection simply named “The 10” Virgil took ten of the brands most iconic silhouettes and redefined them using his own unique deconstructed style. The Off-White x Nike shoe range has widely been regarded as the biggest competitor to Kanye Wests Yeezy dominance outside of the already well established Air Jordan brand.
Off the back of his work with Nike, Abloh is named the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections in 2018. and by 2019 he has worked on projects with Scandinavia furniture tycoon Ikea, bottled water brand Evian, and his artwork will be subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The ceiling for Virgil Abloh really is as high as he wants it to be going forward. With his diversity and versatility his main strength. Alongside his ability to use shape which is rooted in his love with architecture which has made him one of the most coveted designers on the planet. No doubt meaning that Virgil Abloh net worth is only ever going to rise.
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