Virgil Abloh creates fashion program for at-risk Chicago youth

By

Emily Jensen

Published
Jul 15, 2017

The Off-White designer and Chicago native worked with the city’s Creating Real Economic Destiny (CRED) to create a fashion program for at-risk youth. The effort culminated in a fashion show last night displaying the work of young Chicago men.

 
Virgil Abloh took inspiration from his own career and journey to create a program that would uplift young Chicago men via fashion. Working with Chicago concept store RSVP Gallery and CRED, Abloh created a six-week program that would allow the participants to create a small fashion collection.
 
Many of the fifteen young men who participated come from Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods and face the risk of falling victim to gun violence. The six-week program at RSVP Gallery allowed the participants to learn about fashion branding and merchandising, with the goal of helping them find a creative outlet outside of the city’s often-dangerous streets.

The participants showed their creations at RSVP Gallery in a fashion show last night, with Abloh hinting at the possibility of selling the t-shirts from the collections. Abloh and Chicago CRED have also expressed interest in continuing the program.
 
Abloh was born to Ghanaian immigrants in Rockford, IL, and launched his label Off-White in 2014 after working with Kanye West. Abloh showed his latest Off-White collection at Pitti Uomo in June in Milan. It was also recently he announced he would be collaborating with Ikea on a new collection.