Kanye West, Rihanna and more attend memorial service for Virgil Abloh
A private memorial service for Abloh, the visionary fashion designer, was held Monday at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
A private memorial service for visionary fashion designer Virgil Abloh was held on Monday at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Celebrities including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Kid Cudi and Frank Ocean were among those in attendance, according to TMZ.
Tyler the Creator reportedly spoke to mourners gathered, and he cried as he reflected on his relationship with Abloh. Lauryn Hill was also spotted by the gossip site singing at the event and wiping away tears.
TMZ caught several celebs outside of the service — most were dressed in black funeral attire. Chicago native West was spotted outside, where he signed several autographs for waiting fans.
Abloh, who was also from Chicago, reportedly met West in 2002. The two would then go on to intern at Fendi, where the rapper was also studying design. West later appointed Abloh the creative director of his creative agency, Donda, according to a 2018 profile and timeline in Vogue magazine.
A trained architect, Abloh held an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In 2011, he did art direction for the West and Jay-Z Watch the Throne album and tour.
In 2013, Abloh launched his own fashion brand, Off-White, which went on to enter the modern menswear and womenswear space. In 2017, a major year for Abloh, he did collaborations with Jimmy Choo and Jacob the Jeweler, then Nike. The following year, he was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections.
Abloh died on Nov. 28 of cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was diagnosed in 2019 and, despite the bleak prognosis, continued to work while undergoing treatment until his death.
In a joint statement, LVMH, Louis Vuitton and Off-White said: “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.”
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