Virgil Abloh says he is being more productive than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Virgil Abloh
The Off-White CEO and founder and Louis Vuitton Men artistic director is working on extra collections during this time and believes that it is important for the global fashion industry to show its resilience and prove how valuable it is to the world.
Speaking during the Vogue Global Conversations series, Virgil said: "We need to show our resilience. This is the time to prove our industry is a valuable one. Not for a second will I cancel, or pause, or take time off the calendar ... Everything on my end will proceed. I'm finding ways to work harder, more efficient. I've started another collection on top of the collection I was working on for June because I have more time."
Virgil, 39, also believes that now is an important time for the fashion industry to reset and start listening to their consumers.
He explained: "We're at a position now where I think we can realign ourselves with listening to the consumer first and responding, instead of the previous model, which was sort of talking down [to the customer.
"It's critical that we as designers and institutions and brands realign ourselves with the voice of the people today. That means what we traditionally know as a fashion image or an image to market or a video or a glimpse, I think can get more heartfelt. I think it can reflect the real public and humanity in a more seamless way rather than a projected idea of what a fashion image is or a marketing image is or a campaign is."
And he insisted that more diversity is needed in the fashion world.
Virgil said: "The buzzword of diversity is not a marketing technique in the new world, it actually brings new voices to the table and allows them to flourish."