Just last week Riccardo Tisci announced his plans to move on from his role as head creative at Paris luxury label Givenchy, and already a rumor has surfaced that Off White designer Virgil Abloh is being considered as his successor. WWD has said Givenchy has held discussions with Abloh, though when asked about the rumor, a spokesperson for the label had no comment.
When reached today (February 6, 2017), Abloh also declined to comment on the role. In a prior interview with WWD, he noted it’s always been a goal of his to work at a leading luxury label. “My trajectory is to update and provide something new in the fashion industry by way of creating a project and using it as a case study on how to update a luxury house.” On our end, we have heard from an off-the-record source that the rumor is indeed true.
No doubt Givenchy vis-a-vis Tisci is familiar with Abloh through his creative association with Kanye West. In his favor, Abloh mainly has presented Off White runway shows in Paris so he’s familiar with the landscape. And while Abloh doesn’t have the years of design experience possessed by Tisci, in just two years since founding Off White, he’s shown a ton of talent for creating compelling collections as well as artful one-off projects and is known for his connection with the youth globally, a link that includes six Off White stores in Asian and one in London.
One thing is for sure, if Abloh is not snapped up by Givenchy, he soon will be by another luxury house.
