What the f*ck is street style, according to Virgil Abloh?

It was a drooly Friday evening in Stockholm. Virgil Abloh; the creative director, designer, DJ, video director, founder of Off-White, and arguably the most influential man on the fashion side of the world, sat down with his phone in one hand, an Irish beer in the other, and earpods in his ears that were linked to the (always connected) phone of Adam Katz Sinding. As my FaceTime app beeped its way to Stockholm, the two front figures in fashion were settling in, what appeared to be, a very fancy hotel lobby.

I had an appointment with the two to talk about the current state of fashion, and in particular their role in that world. That appointment got somewhat delayed, as mr. Abloh’s ever so kind assistant emailed me that he was still on his way to Stockholm. When the connection was established, the omnipresent beard introduced me to Virgil, and a big smile welcomed me on the screen.

We had a lot to talk about. At that moment, Louis Vuitton just released its collaborative collection with streetwear giant Supreme. Virgil himself, just finished “The Ten”, a reinterpretation of Nike’s most popular sneakers. It is at exact this twilight zone where Adam and Virgil operate, as Virgil would elaborate further in the conversation: “Unlike what many people would think, to me, Off-White is not punk. I’m way too old for that. I want to live a particular lifestyle that’s a little closer to Ralph Lauren than a small brand on the rise that’s trying to keep it real. I believe in the absolute middle: one foot in the establishment, one foot in the independent. I try to play with the juxtaposition of that.”

Adam Katz Sinding: “The economy between that is very interesting to me as well. It’s an intersection of both worlds.”

Mikel van den Boogaard (MENDO): “That in betweenness is what you see in your images. It seems to be the exact playground where you operate. How do you see the world around you evolve?”

AKS: “I feel like the industry is becoming exactly that: an industry. It’s all just for the business now, and I rarely see any creativity. It’s the same with people that wear it. They just want “things” to feel relevant. Hype items that no one can get so when they have it, they are validated.”

VA: “You could say that what I make is also just hype, and I would probably agree with that too. We can get into the semantics of what hype means, but to me, hype is just too relative. I believe in relevance. So if something has “zero hype”, that just means that it’s irrelevant. Hype, or whatever you want to call it, is just: something’s working and something might not be working. I can imagine that my brand might not be around in ten years but that doesn’t matter to me. I’m trying to make something artful that at the same time says something about the modern time. It’s what’s relevant right now.”

MvdB: “You could say that Adam’s images play an important role in creating relevance.”

VA: “Yeah, and that’s why I’m saying that his photos are worth so much. The hard drive itself is the only thing that lasts. These clothes will be sold, thrown away or stored, sometimes even after one season, the people you’ll see in the book all have too many clothes anyway. But these images last. It’s ironic, but I think we’re not in this to make money. You can tell there are certain trends, like Adam said before, but when you go to an artists’ studio, and they’re making a hundred paintings and sculptures in their gallery – yes, you could see it as an industry, but I still consider it art.”

AKS: “You should see the industry as a by-product. It’s about culture, and about now. This is all a time-stamp. I want people to look at this book in 50 years and see what Virgil and all these other great people did in 2018.”

VA: “Yeah but even right now. Your photography allows me to see what’s going on around me. To me, it’s like where in the renaissance and we have documentation of it, while we’re living it.”

On the same subject: read our interview with photographer Adam Katz Sinding. “I wasn’t born with much of a filter. So when I see bullshit, I call “bullshit”.