Dear Virgil Abloh, I Wish We Had More Time To Say Thank You

“Life is so short you can’t waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do” — Virgil Abloh.

I was napping when I got the news. I woke up to a few texts asking if I had heard the news and if I was doing ok?

I woke up groggily and thumbed through only to see that Virgil Abloh, one of my idols and personal heroes had passed away. I didn’t know what to feel, think, or say.

Frankly, I still don’t. For the past few days I’ve been in a daze of sorts just thinking. Thinking a lot about life, about how much time we have, and asking myself a lot of questions about the life I have carved for myself.

You never think one of your heroes will pass before you get the chance to meet them or before you get to thank them for inspiring you to get where you’ve gotten.

For me, as a 1st gen African American kid who went to school to study engineering and started a t-shirt company while in college, Virgil was a symbol of my own experiences. I saw so much of my own story within what he did and how he accomplished it.

To see what he accomplished as a Black strong man, with a family, and elegant humbleness to his genius was unlike anything I had ever seen before in the creative field. As a creative, especially in marketing, I rarely have had idols that I could look up to and fully resonate with.

And that is what makes his passing so hard. He was the best of us and opened up the door for so many people like us to have opportunities that never would have been possible before.

I’ve been kicking myself for not making the effort to go to Chicago or Boston to see him or his Figure of Speech exhibits when I had an opportunity to do both. That knowledge will haunt me for some time, but what I am most sadden about is that I’ll never get to look him in the eye and truly tell him how much his sacrifice mattered to me.

Black men, in particular don’t have a whole lot of role models to look up to, outside of the typical genres of athlete, musician, or comedian. They are rarely in roles that influence and lead culture from prestigious positions like product designer, creative director, or architect.

In Virgil we found all 3 and so much more. I won’t get to tell him how much I’ve referenced his rule of 3%, or how I have looked into so many of his inspirations like Marcel Duchamp, Dieter Rams, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

These individuals have in turn inspired me but their names were made real only through the watching of Virgil. What was so special about him was he didn’t just open up the gate creatively to where he was, he also spotlit the knowledge (and where to find it) so that anyone could creatively open up their own gate.

The legendary genius was in being able to open up his own mind in a way that provided real access and data points for anyone to collect/interpret. Armed with those data points anyone could have the opportunity to create and carve out a path their own way, like he did.

I know I won’t be able to let this go for a while. His passing has left such a void in my heart but it has also inspired me in a way I never could have anticipated.

That way is to make him proud, to let him know all he did mattered. I heard and saw all the work that he left behind and I will happily pick up the mantel to do the best that I can to get into a position to open up more doors for people who look like me.

In the end, instead of wishing the world knew how much time was left on his clock so we could appreciate even more, I now wish for everyone who was ever inspired by him to pick up the mantle and do the best they can to break barriers for the next generation.

It is through the remembrance of his work and our own countless, but needed, sacrifices that we can show our race in its highest form — thus inspiring a next generation to know their worth and do the same.

Virgil Abloh, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did. It will not be forgotten.