Another awards reveal, another bad move.
During the In Memoriam homage of the 2022 Grammys committed to the artists lost in the previous year, Louis Vuitton creative director and Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh– who passed away of cancer in 2021 at age 41– was identified a “Hip Hop Fashion Designer.” Backlash from audiences rapidly followed on Twitter.
“Virgil Abloh was the damn artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear and founded a full-on fashion house in Milan,” the Watching the Throne podcast published. “I get them trying to tie him to music in some way to ‘explain’ the inclusion to clueless people. But respect is more important than catering to a clueless person.”
Although Abloh did deal with hip hop artists such as Kanye West, critics of the “Hip Hop Fashion Designer” classification kept in mind that it did not encapsulate his profession. In addition to Louis Vuitton and Italian high-end brand name Off-White, Abloh dealt with Fendi and Nike, and developed the Grammy- chosen product packaging for Kanye’s 2012 Watch the Throne album.
