Virgil Abloh

I can come up with 30 T-shirt designs in a day, but it's just about where to slot each of them. That's streetwear to me. It's about knowing where to buy things, not this mass thing you can get anywhere.

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I'm not really into style. I'm more into confidence or having something to say.

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All the skateboarding brands that I was into had graphic T-shirts. In the '90s, there were different styles that went along with the different influences in skateboarding, whether that be hip-hop or rock and roll and grunge. And that's what I was into, so I was following all that.

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For me, there's a subtlety in focusing on the right shape of T-shirt and pant. I recognise that it's boring, but the idea is to catch people off-guard and reward them in some valuable way.

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I suck at sleeping.

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The blue-collar culture, it's not really a buttoned-up aesthetic. It's a heavy-labor thing because you're, like, sweating.

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DJing is like a great tasteful art form.

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I was never meant to, like, work and then turn it off and sit on the couch. I just have a vision, and I'm inspired by it. It's sort of what makes me tick.

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In my case, everything starts from Marcel Duchamp and the new expressive possibilities he gave us with his ready-mades. I transferred his artistic language into today's world, choosing, for example, to use pedestrian-crossing stripes as a symbol.

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I don't come up with ideas in a test tube; I come up with ideas by breaking test tubes. That's how I've always been.

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Growing up, at high school, we all used to wear Champion garments, which, in America, are standard-issue gym uniforms.

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I'm mostly into buying art from friends. I like to keep it vague - just whatever I find intriguing.

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The most valuable thing in culture is to find something first - so everyone is always looking.

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Graphic tees are vibes. And I think they're the basis of a lot of wardrobes, but that makes it challenging to distill what you're brand means within a T-shirt.

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I don't do the vintage thing so much, just because it's not me. There are some vintage designers I'll buy things from, but mostly not.

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I just wanna start a brand that inspires and is geared towards youth.

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Fashion is kinda a joke. I don't get too bogged down in the clothes. For me, it's one big art project, just a canvas to show that fashion should have a brand which has someone behind it who cares about different contexts. Social things.

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The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that's how you create things that are totally new.

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People, when they say 'streetwear,' they miss the central component, which is that it's real people; it's clothes that are worn on the street.

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I'd do anything at the right time, and I would also do things at the wrong time if they felt right.

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Quotes by Virgil Abloh