The way the Recording Academy - which organizes the Grammy Awards - described the late designer Virgil Abloh at the Grammy Awards ceremony has caused a great deal of criticism on social media.
In honor of his figure at the 2022 Grammy, Louis Vuitton designer and founder of Off-White - who passed away in 2021 due to cancer - was labeled a "hip hop designer".
"Virgil Abloh was the artistic director of menswear in Louis Vuitton and founded a fashion house in Milan," the Watching the Throne podcast posted.
Although Abloh worked with hip-hop artists such as Kanye West, critics noted that the description did not include his career. In addition to Louis Vuitton and the Italian luxury brand Off-White, Abloh worked with Fendi and Nike.
Numerous users wrote on Twitter: "How was this description approved by so many people?". Others add that Grammy has shown "disrespect". All the more so as on the red carpet, the world stars of K-Pop, the BTS sensation, arrived dressed in Louis Vuitton, Abloh's latest creations.
Virgil Abloh was an American designer, DJ and entrepreneur who was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection from March 2018 until his death in November 20201. Abloh was also the CEO of the Milan-based label, Off -White, a fashion house he founded in 2012.
With experience in architecture, Abloh entered the fashion world through street fashion. In 2009, he conducted an internship at Fendi alongside Kanye West. After that he collaborated with Kanye and started founding Off-White.
The label of "hip-hop style designer" downplays the career of Abloh, who was the first American of African descent to become the artistic director of a French luxury fashion house, and in 2018, was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 people most influential in the world.
