I don't have to choose between high fashion or streetwear. My brand reminds me that it doesn't have to fit in a box. It can just be in a gray area.
Virgil Abloh
The concept with Off-White is that I have no ideal target. It's more about trying to make something for everyone. And I think that's what helps make it unique. That there isn't a specific muse.
Fashion is kinda a joke. I don't get too bogged down in the clothes. For me, it's one big art project, just a canvas to show that fashion should have a brand which has someone behind it who cares about different contexts. Social things.
The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that's how you create things that are totally new.
Fashion and music are two great artistic forms that can be molded by the youth culture - our taste and our passion for evolving things in our limited time on earth allows us to look at things with fresh eyes.
Everything I do references something that influenced me.
I'd do anything at the right time, and I would also do things at the wrong time if they felt right.
Art is made in hindsight.
When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together.
My dad is a Ghanaian immigrant, and he wanted a son who was an engineer.
As a young designer in tune with culture, I'm interested in the lifeline of trends.
My graphic design skills are superior to a lot of other things I can do; I use it as a part of my tool kit.
Whenever I'm doing a collection, I'm inspired by the world around us.
Collaboration is not a punchline... I only collaborate with the best in each category.
What I love about tennis is the gracefulness. It's an aggressive and powerful game, but it takes touch and finesse.
I just wanna start a brand that inspires and is geared towards youth.
I don't have the patience to be a non-creator.
I'm not really into style. I'm more into confidence or having something to say.
Ironic things are interesting.
I don't come up with ideas in a test tube; I come up with ideas by breaking test tubes. That's how I've always been.
The most important message is to let me just focus on making the most beautiful normcore clothes, but as luxurious as possible.
There's no line between a designer and consumer.
Criticism doesn't worry me.
Graphic tees are vibes. And I think they're the basis of a lot of wardrobes, but that makes it challenging to distill what you're brand means within a T-shirt.
I do fashion to tell a narrative.
I look at culture, and I see what the kids around me are wearing, and I see a particular style. I understand the space between fashion and streetwear.
I don't play golf.
You can look at Lil Uzi and know he has a strong opinion about his aesthetic.
I was never meant to, like, work and then turn it off and sit on the couch. I just have a vision, and I'm inspired by it. It's sort of what makes me tick.
I try to talk on the phone as little as possible.
The blue-collar culture, it's not really a buttoned-up aesthetic. It's a heavy-labor thing because you're, like, sweating.
Every idea that comes to mind I execute, or I look for outlets to put out ideas.
All the skateboarding brands that I was into had graphic T-shirts. In the '90s, there were different styles that went along with the different influences in skateboarding, whether that be hip-hop or rock and roll and grunge. And that's what I was into, so I was following all that.
I can come up with 30 T-shirt designs in a day, but it's just about where to slot each of them. That's streetwear to me. It's about knowing where to buy things, not this mass thing you can get anywhere.
In my case, everything starts from Marcel Duchamp and the new expressive possibilities he gave us with his ready-mades. I transferred his artistic language into today's world, choosing, for example, to use pedestrian-crossing stripes as a symbol.
Music needs a visual element to make it tangible. So, naturally, there's gonna be a synergy between high-level art direction and high-level albums.
Big teams are absolutely vital if you want to achieve certain results when you're working on larger scales, both in terms of physical size and productive quantities.
I don't do the vintage thing so much, just because it's not me. There are some vintage designers I'll buy things from, but mostly not.
I have this overriding principle that streetwear could end up like disco: that it will be perceived well at the time but doesn't age well at all.
I suck at sleeping.
I've been DJing since I was in high school.
My goal was to tell a dialogue between high fashion and streetwear. So, the name Off-White, in my mind, is between black and white. So, that middle ground is a mixture between both genres of fashion.
My style is to never say no.
I'm always trying to prove to my 17-year-old self that I can do creative things I thought weren't possible.
I always live in multiple places. I'm never in the same city for seven days.
Take Tom Sachs as an artist. His brain is more brilliant than anything, so of course, anything he puts out over a ten-year period is going to continue to be super relevant. But if you look at some artists, they have one good idea, but unless you know where it's coming from, it's not going to be lasting.
DJing is my only peace of mind. When the phone is off, I play my favourite songs really loud for myself, and I'm not talking to anyone; I'm not managing anything. It's just, like, a time when I can listen to music.
I started off as a kid who didn't care what my education was.
People that are able to think in terms of concepts and offer us valuable forms of art are very exciting to me.
Kanye looks for the best in everything.
