The luxury conglomerate is deepening its relationship with Virgil Abloh.
Words by Amy De Klerk
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LVMH is furthering its relationship with Virgil Abloh and his label Off-White with a new investment which will see the luxury conglomerate increase its stake to own 60 per cent of the company, with Abloh holding onto 40 per cent.
The move will give Abloh the opportunity to launch brands and partnerships in other areas of LVMH, not just the fashion division, which is a fairly unique proposition.
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“I’m completely honoured,” Abloh told WWD. “There’s a long trajectory of creative directors partnering with a house, but this is something completely new, and I commend Mr. Arnault and Michael Burke for seeing my talent across spectrums and incubating me to a place where I can suggest different things that don’t fall in the realm of a runway show.”
Abloh gave some clues into the markets he was hoping to move into with the label, explaining that he wants to see fashion, art and culture merge together.
“There’s areas within the spirits side of the business that are attractive to me; there’s areas within the hospitality, the hotels side; jewellery — you know, more minutiae within the fashion segment. My eyes have always been wide in terms of fashion, arts and culture and how they can merge together. So the announcement is leaning on that, that now there’s an opportunity to grow new segments and root myself within LVMH, the group.”
Meanwhile, Michael Burke, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, praised Abloh’s creative eye and expressed excitement at this new and unique partnership.
“He’s shown that he has the pulse of the fashion world, but he’s also very design-driven,” he said. “In other words, he has a very long-term view of beauty and designing beauty. So the time’s right now to do things on a different level within LVMH.”
As well as retaining his role as creative director of Off-White, Abloh will also continue on in his role as artistic director of menswear at LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton, the group announced.
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This article originally appeared on harpersbazaar.com/uk/
