Virgil Abloh passed away suddenly last November, leaving the fashion world in mourning. Artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s collections and creator of his own brand with a streetwear aesthetic, Off-White, he profoundly marked fashion with his surprising audacity, exclusive collaborations and limitless imagination (who doesn’t remember the airplane bag, revealed during Louis Vuitton’s fall-winter 2021/22 men’s collection?). But fashion wasn’t his only playground: the committed designer also had degrees in civil engineering and architecture. These artistic worlds are not so far apart and he enjoyed mixing them, always with the same creative bubbling, like this Off-White flagship unveiled in Miami in 2020. Spread over two floors, the space highlighted the diversity of the American label’s identity. Halfway between a boutique and a contemporary art gallery, the flagship, with its uncluttered but colourful look, was the image of what fashion represented in the eyes of Virgil Abloh: a space for sharing, inclusivity and the democratisation of luxury.

Mathieu Clement