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Virgil Abloh’s Blueprint for Black Advancement

The late designer identified with the Black condition and set about designing not just products but a better future, writes Jason Campbell.
Late designer Virgil Abloh identified with the Black condition and set about designing not just products but a better future, writes Jason Campbell.
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Late designer Virgil Abloh identified with the Black condition and set about designing not just products but a better future, writes Jason Campbell. (Getty Images)

The news of Virgil Abloh’s passing late this year sent seismic shockwaves across the world far beyond the fashion industry. Acres of Instagram posts memorialised Abloh as one of a kind, a culture shifter, a game changer, a Renaissance man. And indeed he was all of the above. But looking back at an interview I conducted with Abloh in April 2021, it is clear that his metier was far more than designer. He was a force for social change whose work included a blueprint for Black advancement so that others could follow in his footsteps.

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