Virgil Abloh: A Timeless Mentor
By: Jack Mullins
To cover the life, work, and impact of Virgil Abloh is far too expansive a task to fit into one article. And although it may seem fitting for this magazine to discuss Virgil’s work as a DJ or his album cover artwork, I believe that to resonate the greatest possible impact from Virgil’s life and work would be to discuss elements of his ideology and motives, which offer myself and many others continual inspiration to create.
A crucial point of Virgil Abloh’s work was his emphasis on the 3% rule (link), the idea that a previous work or design needs only to be altered by 3% to be considered something new and innovative. Or in his own words, 3% is “The exact ratio needed to twist a normative object into something special” Virgil expresses that this allows for progress while keeping within the comfortable bounds of familiarity. But this is where criticism comes in.
Some have described Virgil’s work as ‘art-thievery’ or plagiarism, deeming his creations as low effort because of this only 3% change. It is an interesting and restrictive critique in a world where a large design company can produce a new clutch bag, almost exactly identical to that of another brand, but with a new buckle design that is readily accepted by the public as a good design. This situation fits quite nicely into the aforementioned 3% rule. But when Virgil Abloh seemingly takes a design element, like a green ring, and makes it part of a new design, even transforming it with new material, it causes a fuss.
It is much like the practice of sampling in music, taking a piece of another song and remixing it or chopping it to become a part of something new.
It is important to understand the motivation behind Virgil’s usage of the 3% rule. Abloh wrote, “I once read, the greatest way to reduce genius is to immediately recall what something you see reminds you of” I have never read more critical advice to designers. While I have gone through the experience that he described, I did not realize what the antidote was and how important it is for it to be popularized in the world of design. Every design is inspired by something, and there are no thoughts in the brain that form without building off of a reference. Some of these thoughts are so far removed from what originally inspired them that their origin is indiscernible. But as an example of what Virgil is saying, look at the Chrysler 300, whose design Drake made notice of in the song “Keep The Family Close,” rapping, “Always saw you for what you could’ve been / Ever since you met me / Like when Chrysler made that one car / That looked just like the Bentley.” Below is an image of the Chrysler 300 (left) next to the Bentley Flying Spur (right).
The two reactions the 300 is likely to draw are, “Woah! A Bentley!” immediately followed by disappointment, or, “Wow, that car just looks like a worse version of a Bentley.'' The 300 has some great design features and took a lot of hard work to make, but as long as “looking like something else” can dismiss it, many people won’t care. Virgil’s method of taking something that inspires him and not trying to hide it, but instead using that pure inspiration as a piece to make something new, made it exciting, not disappointing, to see how he was inspired and to view that process within his work.
Virgil Abloh gets his ideas out there. So much of the creative process can be hindered by something not feeling right, something incomplete, or a lack of confidence in producing or finishing an idea. With Virgil’s work, it seems as if he can take just one idea and turn it into an item, with no overcomplications making something into a complex composition of dozens of ideas that intertwine together to create a massive narrative masterpiece. He mastered taking a cool idea, like putting a Caravaggio painting on a hoodie, and then just making it happen with only a few more aesthetic choices, pumping his creativity into the world. Effectively communicating his central idea, we witness the meaning and implications of the painting shift when the base of the work changes from a canvas to a hoodie.
Looking at things this way does not take anything away from Abloh’s work, as the message he is trying to convey is easier to get at than having to peel back multiple layers of separate meanings. His design method allowed him to maximize his creative output and produce work in many different areas. His career simultaneously spanned DJ sets, personal collections for his Off-White brand, collaborations for Off-White, being creative director for menswear at one of the largest fashion houses in the world, and on top of everything, he still managed to have enough time to interact with and give back to creatives everywhere. The 3% rule supported his design output because no time and effort were wasted trying to bury and hide an inspiration. The components just need to be put together to show the audience an intention.
Additionally, Virgil Abloh knew that the value of his work lay in his ideas and visuals. He printed a good amount on regular, accessible blanks, using Champion for hoodies and t-shirts. People who sold out Abloh’s clothing and turned his brands, such as Pyrex Vision, into iconic streetwear legends, did not care about what their clothing started as because Virgil’s visuals transformed the garments into a fashion line. The vision outweighed the materiality. Additionally, using Champion, a brand that people are used to wearing themselves, was in a way an homage to them. Its accessibility further conveyed Abloh’s message that ''you can do it too,” which was his most stressed sentiment throughout his work.
Virgil was always a man for the people. Part of his interest in creating deconstructed-looking designs was to show the youth the process of how something was made, allowing them to relate to the different components in the early stages of creation and demonstrating how to move towards a final product. He even gave away the literal blueprints of his work, sharing a boatload of files on his website, https://public---domain.com (link). These were all his files from his Off-White collaborations with Nike, and Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator files for every shape, logo, and design he created to make these collaborative products. Anyone could download, edit, or print these designs with unprecedented access to one of the most impactful apparel collaborations in recent history. To go with this site, Virgil Abloh has another page titled “FREE GAME,” (link) which is a step-by-step guide to creating a brand: choosing a name, obtaining trademarks, creating commerce websites, and more, including a video introduction from the man himself as well as a collection of video interviews to draw inspiration from. It wasn’t just Virgil’s message to show people that they “can do it too”; it was his mission, and everything he created was oriented to serve as examples and tutorials for the next generation.
In the wake of his death, the true magnitude of his outreach was brought to light. An experience not unique to myself was seeing these Instagram creatives with small pages, people who you’d think you practically discovered, post their tributes to Virgil Abloh, complete with pictures of him visiting their studio, his words of advice, and how he connected them with opportunity in the art world. It is awe-inspiring how many people Virgil expanded his network to. He was everyone’s mentor because he made a consistent effort to actually go and mentor everyone. Creatives everywhere, or even people in any field, should be inspired to step up to be more like Virgil, and help others in their industry, rather than rejecting each other out of competitiveness. Virgil made it through to a position he was never told he could exist in and then worked to bring everyone with him. He leaves a legacy of being a breakthrough designer who became a timeless inspiration and selflessly crafted himself into an invaluable resource.
