Virgil Abloh: Off-White has matured

Virgil Abloh says his autumn/winter 2021 collection is “grown up”.

The fashion label’s CEO debuted his upcoming line during Haute Couture Week in Paris, France at the weekend – with Bella Hadid walking the runway in a striking blue gown – and the fashion designer has admitted Off-White has matured since his last collection.

He told Vogue: “It’s rebelling against the younger version of myself.

“This is the first time I’ve actually said that. Normally I say I’m trying to stay the younger version of myself. But in a weird ‘ta-dah’ way, it’s like: Off-White should be adult!”

Virgil says he did a lot of growing up himself amid the COVID-19 pandemic which seeped into his designs.

He added: “If I were to look at my body of work, especially through the year off, I think I’ve grown up the most in the shortest amount of time. And that is super apparent when I look at the work. I see a maturity.”

Meanwhile, the fashion muse previously revealed he started his fashion brand to pursue architecture.

The 40-year-old designer received a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology but created Off-White to “investigate” architecture instead of following a traditional route.

He said: “I don’t believe in disciplines. We can use our architecture brain and do many things, not just what we’re supposed to do.

“I started a career to make a brand to do architecture rather than just work at SOM, or wherever I would have naturally gone starting my architecture career. I made a brand to sort of investigate architecture in a way.”