Virgil Abloh as seen in Wallpaper*
In tribute to the creative polymath, who passed away on Sunday 28 November 2021, we look back to the innovative mark he made in the pages of Wallpaper*
It was with profound sadness that the creative world learnt of the passing of Virgil Abloh at age 41 on Sunday 28 November 2021, after a private battle with cancer. Abloh achieved an astonishing amount in the short time during which he transcended the worlds of art, fashion, design and music, flitting with ease between the spheres of niche and commercial creativity, nightclubs and design studios, and inspiring a new generation of young creatives to dream that anything – be it being handed the keys to a French heritage house Louis Vuitton or collaborating with artists such as Takashi Murakami – is possible.
Wallpaper* worked with Abloh on a variety of projects. We were lucky to preview Project Geländewagen, his boundary-pushing collaboration with Mercedes-Benz in our September 2020 Style Special issue, which reinterpreted the German brand’s classic G-Class SUV series. For the same issue, we invited Abloh to take over our front cover. In the most groundbreaking interpretation of our limited-edition subscriber cover yet, he created an understated, tactile and radical design, which saw a scissor graphic invite the reader to cut the magazine in half. As an added element of Abloh’s Wallpaper* cover takeover, he personally cut and autographed 184 copies of the magazine, titling this 2 for the Price of 1.
Here we take a look back at the innovative mark Abloh made in the pages of Wallpaper*.
Virgil Abloh as seen in Wallpaper*
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