The former fashion collaborator and Donda creative director—Virgil Abloh—died on November 28. Kanye West paid tribute to the 41-year-old fashion designer with a cover of Adele’s “Easy On Me” from her recent album 30.
Kanye West and Sunday Service Honor Virgil Abloh
The performance show live-streamed on the Donda Live site after the word of Abloh’s passing made its rounds. During his performance of the song, “In loving memory of Virgil Abloh, creative director of Donda” was on the screen as West changed some of the lyrics. Lyrics per The Daily Mail:
Go easy on, father
I am still your child
And I need the chance to
Feel your love around
West was among many celebrities who worked with and interacted with Abloh. Actors, personalities, music labels, and artists such as South Korean band BTS, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, hip-hop record label Roc Nation, Victoria Beckham, actor Idris Elba, and musicians Drake and Justin Timberlake—among others—gave their condolences on social media and prayers to Abloh’s family.
Kanye West Honors Collaborator and Fashion Icon Virgil Abloh with Adele Cover
Drake’s tribute on Instagram read: My plan is to touch the sky 1000 more times for you…love you eternally brother, thank you for everything.
Kanye and Virgil’s Creative Partnership and Decade Run at the Top
Virgil Abloh had been battling a rare cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma for the past two years. It was while in college for architecture that Abloh’s interest in fashion was piqued. After scoring a fashion scholarship in 2009, he began interning with Italian fashion house Fendi.
It would be here that he ran into an old acquaintance and future creative partner Kanye West who also has an interest in fashion and was also doing an internship with the fashion house. The two met years prior while Abloh was still involved with street fashion in Chicago.
His mixing of European fashion and street fashion saw him burst onto the scene in the 2010s when he joined Kanye’s agency Donda in 2010. From there, he would work the artistic direction of album covers for Kanye, Jay-Z, Lil Uzi Vert, Westside Gunn, and an ill-received effort a post-humorous release from Pop Smoke.
Some of these albums include Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne—which he received a Grammy nod for—Lil Uzi’s Luv Is Rage 2, Gunn’s Pray for Paris, and Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak.
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Abloh would establish his own fashion house in France: Off-White in 2013. The brand would go on to give Gucci a run for its money and surpass the long-standing fashion house.
He would fall out with West in 2018 after becoming the first Black designer to head up a major French men’s line after becoming the head of menswear at Louis Vuitton. Virgil would make his debut with LV at that year’s Men’s Fashion Week.
Throughout the year, Kanye would address his and Abloh’s relationship as well as his fellow Chi-Town native’s creative role with Donda. His remarks have been interpreted as either jabs or clarification. The two would bury the hatchet later that year and resume their collaboration.
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