The Dance Music Community Reacts to the Untimely Death of Designer Virgil Abloh

Famed designer Virgil Abloh died on Sunday at age 41. Abloh, who got his start working alongside Kanye West, was the designer for Off-White and Louis Vuitton’s first and only Black artistic director, and is credited with inspiring the high-end streetwear trend.

Abloh died of a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma, “which he had been battling privately for several years,” LVMH, the parent company that owns Louis Vuitton, shared in a statement Sunday morning.

“We are all shocked after this terrible news,” said LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom. The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother or their friend.”

Along with inspiring the world of fashion in numerous ways, Abloh had a keen interest in music and DJ culture, and DJed at events and clubs like Tomorrowland, Hï Ibiza, fabric, Circoloco and more. He also released a single called “ORVNGE” alongside Boys Noize in 2018, and in 2019 collaborated with Pioneer DJ on designing a transparent model of Pioneer’s CDJ-2000NXS2 and DJM-900NXS2, which was displayed at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

News of the Abloh’s death socked and saddened many in the dance music community, who left their fond memories and condolences across social media.