Virgil Abloh, the new artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, absolutely loves It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. “In the last 2 days I have watched like 6 episodes… and I am hooked.” His favorite brand of kitchen knife is Global, (also a favorite of Anthony Bourdain, FYI): “Any product that has a concept rooted in bringing together Italian design aesthetics, German durability, and Japanese precision is on to something.” And he is a huge fan Karl Lagerfeld interviews. “‘Designers shouldn’t talk, they should just design.’ –real talk.”While countless column inches have been dedicated to Abloh, his design practice, and his brand, Off-White, it’s unlikely you knew any of this about him. Unless, by chance, you were an avid reader of The Brilliance between 2006 and 2009.Launched in 2005 by two Chicago-based creatives, Benjamin Edgar and Chuck Anderson, The Brilliance was essentially a streetwear-led blog which emerged around the same time as Hypebeast and Slamxhype, and contained random observations on sneakers, hotels, and iPhones. Their friend Virgil joined them a year later, regularly posting about things he liked, what inspired him, plus detailing recent purchases. Just Bought: RAF SIMONS x Eastpak Backpack!!! is essentially a product unboxing video, but in word-form: “I admit I am a consumer and I love design and pay attention to brands so this is gonna work out perfect.” (Side note: he was absolutely wild for triple-exclamation marks back in the day—a precursor to “everything in quotes,” perhaps.)Although Abloh is now as famous as some of the celebrities who wear his clothing, it's not unusual that he used to blog. It was the mid- to late-2000s, and people had yet to develop crippling anxieties about oversharing online. Even Kanye had a blog. (By this time, Abloh was already working with West as his creative director. Maybe they blogged together too?) But while Kanye’s is long gone, The Brillianceremains, and serving as an unfiltered insight into the mind of pre-fame Abloh.Read the full article on Garage
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