Fashion designer Virgil Abloh Photo: VCG

Models walk the runway during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2020-21 show on January 16, 2020 in Paris, France. Photo: VCG

Models walk the runway during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2020-21 show on January 16, 2020 in Paris, France. Photo: VCG

Top US fashion designer Virgil Abloh, artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, died Sunday aged 41 after battling cancer for several years, the fashion and luxury house's French owners LVMH announced.

Abloh, the first black American creative director of a top French fashion house, brought streetwear such as hoodies and sneakers to the catwalk.

He transcended the fashion world and his untimely death at the peak of his career sent shockwaves across the globe, with tributes pouring in from rival design houses but also actors and sportspeople for a man seen as a deeply humane visionary.

"We are all shocked by this terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, but also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom," LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault said in a statement.

"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," he added in the statement posted on LVMH's Twitter account.

The group said he had been "battling privately" against cancer for several years.

Abloh was chosen to be artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection in 2018. His parents had immigrated to the US from Ghana.

LVMH also announced earlier in 2021 it was taking a majority stake in the luxury streetwear label Off-White created by Abloh. LVMH took 60 percent stake in Off-White and Abloh retained 40 percent.

Abloh has addressed both environmental and social issues in his work with Louis Vuitton, with anti-racist and anti-homophobia messages at his January show in Paris.

He said he planned to use his partnership with LVMH "to expand opportunities for diverse individuals and foster greater equity and inclusion in the industries we serve."

Kim Jones, artistic director of menswear at French fashion house Dior said: "So sad to hear about the passing of dear Virgil, one of the kindest people you could ever meet."

Rival Italian luxury fashion house Gucci hailed Abloh as an "immense inspiration to us all both as a designer and as a person. 

"He will be deeply missed though his vision will live on through the trails that he blazed throughout his career," Gucci added on its Twitter account.

Accidental designer

Abloh studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, but his career took a surprising turn after his design ideas caught the attention of West, who hired him as his creative director in 2007. 

The pair were determined to revamp the world of high fashion, and even took on an internship together at Fendi in Rome in 2009 in their bid to learn the business. 

Abloh started his first clothing label, Pyrex Vision, in 2012. 

"I didn't make a conscious decision one day that I wanted to be a designer," he told GQ. 

"I made Pyrex, which in my mind was more like an art piece... and I needed clothing to support this idea."

Pyrex quickly morphed into Off-White, which took the fashion world by storm by mixing urban style with high-end tailoring. 

Its trademark diagonal stripes were combined with ironic messaging - often putting fashion terms in quotation marks on his clothing. 

It all added to Abloh's youth appeal, as did his early embrace of Instagram (he had 6.5 million followers at the time of his passing).

His 2017 collaboration with Nike became "the Official Sneaker of Celebrities Everywhere" in the words of GQ, and many more tie-ups followed, running the gamut from Jimmy Choo and Moncler to even McDonald's. 

That sealed the deal. 

With the old fashion houses desperate to attract younger buyers, Abloh was the obvious candidate to replace Kim Jones- himself a pioneer of luxury streetwear - when he left Louis Vuitton. 

'No one will forget impact'

Abloh was one of a handful of fashion designers who had a close following well beyond the industry and was a celebrity name in his own right.

Long-time friend and collaborator Kanye West dedicated his weekly gathering "Sunday Service" to Abloh, with a livestreamed choir rendition of Adele's new hit "Easy On Me." 

Canadian rapper Drake thanked Abloh "for everything" in an Instagram post. 

"Love you eternally brother," he wrote.

US singer Pharrell Williams also took to Instagram with a tribute, writing: "Virgil you were a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius your work as a human and your work as a spiritual being will live forever.

"Sending love and light to your wife, children, family... you're with the Master now, shine."

On Twitter, French soccer star Kylian Mbappe posted: "RIP VIRGIL ABLOH. No one will forget the impact you had. God bless you my friend."

British actor Idris Elba also tweeted, saying, "Too soon Virgil. You will be missed from this world man." 

French actor Omar Sy, famed for his role in the Netflix series Lupin, wrote: "Rest in Power Virgil."