{"id":140898,"date":"2021-12-22T12:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=140898"},"modified":"2021-12-22T12:11:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:11:34","slug":"love-virgil-models-rally-around-the-late-designer-virgil-abloh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=140898","title":{"rendered":"Love Virgil: Models Rally Around the Late Designer Virgil Abloh"},"content":{"rendered":"

“As a designer or artist, it’s important the time you’re in. The time dictates what makes the work relevant<\/a>.”<\/strong> The Thanksgiving holiday news of the passing of Virgil Abloh<\/a> at age 41 was an extreme shock for many in the fashion industry, in a year that took too many of its greats. Time is something we wish we all had more of yet, even in his death, Abloh continued to push the ephemeral nature of life with the continuation of his life’s work at his last Louis Vuitton Men’s show staged in Miami. A disruptor of fashion, the strong connections he made in fashion, music, and culture both as a creative and as a leader, meant that many came to emphatically celebrate his legacy. Outside of his many collaborative projects, Abloh was a key player in changing the cultural landscape of fashion to reflect himself, evident in the way he cast his shows and advertisements. Working along with DM Casting’s Samuel Ellis Scheinman<\/a>, first with Off-White in 2016 and then exclusively through his tenure at Louis Vuitton, Abloh created watershed moments consistently working with models of color in Paris, the bastion of European luxury, along with models from Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana, his ancestral homeland. As a Ghanaian American black man first, his casting stood out as a deliberate homage to the youth culture he exalted and the many models he brought into the fold. We spoke to those still mourning Abloh’s impact about his impact in fashion, special collaborative moments, and give a platform for them to express their heartfelt goodbyes to the late designer.<\/p>\n

Mother agency, Yafan Models<\/a> in Accra, had a special relationship with Abloh, sending many of their models to work with him in Europe like Ottawa Kwami, Mensah Benjamin, Quaye Dennis, and Bedzo Seth. “He was a dear friend and mentor to us, and showing models as main acts was his mission,” director of Yafan’s Men Division, Monde Gcisa<\/a> reveals. “He used to tell us that it was important for him to have Ottawa Kwami for his first show as the first black creative director at Louis Vuitton and wanted Ottawa exclusively. Yes, he booked a lot of black models for his shows, but he knew confirming a model directly from Africa would trigger a nation of Ottawas’ coming from Africa with a similar story.”<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Ottawa Kwami (@ottawakwami)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n