Kim Kardashian Inspires Virgil Abloh at Off White

(Photo: Splash Images)

There are style-obsessed kids in America who don’t know Dior’s designer, but they’ve got Virgil Abloh’s name scrawled in Sharpie on their sneakers. That tends to happen when you’re a Kanye collaborator, a Rihanna comrade, and a master of the multi-hyphen. (In Abloh’s case, it goes something like designer / musician / architect / engineer / artist / expert hoodie tester.) So when Abloh’s label, Off White, showed in Paris on Thursday night, the scene was predictably insane.

KimYe sat front row with Kris and Kourtney. Frank Ocean was there, too, along with Luca Sabbat, half the Vogue team, and some very excited French teenagers in pleated silver pants. The collection boasted 36 looks, including scalloped-shouldered blouses, leather track pants, and power-blazers-turned-mini-dresses. And when the show was over, audience members scrambled to steal their actual seats—Styrofoam blocks the color of ice packs, printed with the OFF WHITE logo.

(Photo: Getty)

Backstage was its own kind of beautiful zoo, with Kim telling Virgil she was “blown away” and “want[ing] everything,” Kanye pulling his friend into a genuine hug, and models like Lameka Fox and Molly Bair trying to change out of their show looks without flashing half the A$AP Mob.

As for Abloh? Well, we’ll let him speak for himself.

Your show was called “Business Woman,” and you had the number one businesswoman in the world—Kim Kardashian—sitting in your front row. But you didn’t base this collection on her, did you?

No, hang on. You’re hitting part of it…

You did base the collection on Kim!

Well, my clothes aren’t based on fictional life. They’re based on my circle of friends. I think that’s important—fashion is a recorder of contemporary culture. You can mix it with a majestic, artistic quality, but ultimately it’s got to be real.

The invitation for your show was a business card for Katherine Parker. Isn’t that Sigourney Weaver’s character in Working Girl?

Well, I was born in 1980. And so when I was growing up, you had films like Working Girl. It was women wearing men’s suits, waiting for their corner office. In culture, that title has warped itself into a new businesswoman. She needs to be recorded. The traditional feeling of a woman dressed in a man’s costume, it’s totally over. Now, a business woman, I think, is the opposite of that. And so this collection was about showcasing that within the timeline of Paris Fashion Week. Something has shifted culturally, with ideas about women and power and how they should look. This is my proposition about what that is and where it can go.

(Photo: Imax Tree)

Is fashion its own kind of business card?

I feel like in my world, your outfit is your resume. You can’t buy a brand, wear it, and be the brand. You and I could be wearing the same thing, but because we’re so different, people would believe two totally different things about us, and they would form that idea before even using words. So that’s what clothes are for.

Like it or not, you now live in the biggest fame bubble in the world. Does that change the way you see fashion, or the way you create images?

I would almost change the vibe of that…?

Please. Go for it.

I’d say that I’m part of the biggest creative bubble in the world. Everyone in my circle of friends is an artist, and we have our own creative process that’s always been ours. So I’d reframe it, because just because you’re well-known doesn’t mean that you’re not an artist at heart. And I think my friends are proof of that.

There are probably five hundred teenagers outside this building screaming your name. What would you tell them to start doing now if they want to be in your shoes later? If you’re 15, what should you do?

Buy a blank t-shirt and print on it. Then do it again.

Speaking of that—your graphic sweats are some of the most recognizable on the market. Are you concerned about knockoffs?

Are you kidding? I love it. Getting knocked off is the only way to know your clothes are resonating with people. I’m not afraid of knockoffs—I welcome knockoffs!

Yahoo Style is live from Paris Fashion Week! Keep it here for your front row view of the best looks and buzziest moments.