Kanye West Replacing Virgil Abloh As Louis Vuitton’s Creative Director (Report)

Kanye West & Virgil Abloh

Kanye West Is Reportedly Replacing Virgil Abloh As Louis Vuitton’s Creative Director

Kanye West might be getting his biggest fashion break yet–even bigger than Yeezy.

Fashion mogul Kanye West is rumored to be filling the late Virgil Abloh’s designer shoes in the wake of his untimely death. Virgil Abloh was the artistic director for menswear at Louis Vuitton, and a source says that Kanye West is next in line for the role. Of Kanye’s new chapter, the source reportedly said:

“Kanye is devastated about Virgil’s death because they had been friends for years and worked together a lot. They shared a similar vision and now Kanye feels he owes it to Virgil to continue his work at Louis Vuitton.”

Kanye and Virgil Abloh’s friendship dates all the way back to 2009 when the “Paranoid” rapper was an intern at Fendi. Virgil was also a Fendi intern, and the two were enrolled in the same class.

From there, Kanye entrusted Virgil with projects for his creative company Donda. He would act as creative director for Kanye and Jay-Z’s 2011 album Watch the Throne.

Kanye has collaborated with Nike and–thanks to his friend Virgil—Louis Vuitton. Prior to breaking into the fashion industry with Yeezy, Kanye had plans for a clothing line in 2006. The line, which was named “Pastelle Clothing,” was announced in 2005 and was expected to debut in the spring of the following year. Although Kanye had spent years developing the line, it was scrapped in 2009.

Virgil Abloh had been Louis Vuitton’s artistic director since 2018.

On Nov. 28, he died of a rare, aggressive form of cancer after a 2-year battle. He was 40-years-old.

What do you think about Kanye’s new job? Leave us a comment and let us know!

[VIA]