Fmp fashion proforma

2. Contextual Research

3. Virgil Abloh
Founder of
OFF WHITE

4. After graduating from university Abloh interned at Fendi in the same class as rapper Kanye West in 2009. Placed in the
company's Rome Italy office the two began a collaborative relationship. During his work with the rapper and designer Abloh
caught the eye of the Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke. Later that year Abloh and West's artistic partner Don C launched a
retail store called the RSVP Gallery located in Chicago. The store became known for carrying a mixture of fashion apparel and
for its reflection of Abloh's style on his design for the store interior. A year later West appointed Abloh the creative director of
his creative agency Donda.
In 2011, West asked him to serve as the artistic director for the 2011 Jay-Z/West album Watch the Throne. In 2012 Abloh
launched his first company Pyrex Vision. He purchased deadstock clothing from Ralph Lauren for $40 screen-printed designs
on them and sold them for prices upward of $550. He closed the company down a year later as he did not intend it to be a
commercial enterprise but an artistic experiment.
Abloh founded his first fashion house and second business overall in 2013 with the high-end streetwear brand Off-White,
designing a logo inspired by Ben Kelly. Based in Milan Italy the company was described by Abloh as "the gray area between
black and white as the colour off-white" to investors and fashion critics. During the launch of his brand he received help from
the New Guards Group who also assisted many other designers and brands, such as Palm Angels Heron Preston and Marcelo
Burlon. Abloh said his first Off-White collection was inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's floating glass home Farnsworth
House, and presented it with references to the Baroque artist Caravaggio and the early 20th century German design studio
The Bauhaus. The brand lead generated widespread attention for his apparel beginning in Paris, then expanding to China,
Japan, and the United States. The clothing line can be identified through its use of quotation marks zip-ties capital letters and
barricade tape.
By the end of 2018 an index of sales and consumer sentiment ranked Off-White as the hottest label in the world surpassing
Gucci. Virgil also partnered up with the Swedish furniture company IKEA to design furniture for apartments and houses as
well as easy to carry tote bags with the word sculpture imprinted in the middle. The collection was named Markerad, which is
a Swedish word meaning "clear-cut; crisp pronounced" and was released in 2019. Virgil envisioned that the collection would
include practical furniture featuring contemporary designs. In 2017 he was asked to design a new collection in conjunction
with Nike entitled "The Ten" and he re-designed a variety of the company's best-selling shoes. Abloh worked towards
fulfilling his vision for the IKEA collection by sketching out drafts of generic pieces of furniture while adding his own
aesthetics to the designs by using a doorstop to level out furniture items.
His Career

5. How People See His Work
“’Streetwear’ is the most misused term of
the
fashion decade. Streetwear is a
community,
‘streetwear’ is a commodity.”
–Virgil Abloh
“The luxury streetwear pioneer, who
founded Off-White and was men’s
artistic director at Louis Vuitton, was
called the Karl Lagerfeld of his
generation”
-BOF 500
“His way of elevating street clothes
so closely adjacent to the black
experience into a realm of fashion
that historically negated it was quite
astounding,”
-Darnell Lisby James

6. Bibliography Page 3-5
Virgil Abloh. (2014). Off White . Available: https://www.off---white.com/en-
gb/?gclid=CjwKCAiA6Y2QBhAtEiwAGHybPd7jomRr1KFc7LOpJ7e8OliIOJHhEF6BH-
hlgmiEePMiwEyqcM1NRRoCqdMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds. Last accessed 9th February 2022.
Priya Elan. (2021). Why was Virgil Abloh such a revolutionary fashion designer?. Available:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/nov/29/virgil-abloh-black-fashion-designer-artist. Last accessed
9th February 2022.
BOF. (2021). Biography. Available: https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/virgil-abloh. Last
accessed 9th February 2022.

7. John Rankin Waddell
Photographer

8. HisCareer
Rankin and fellow student Jefferson Hack started their own company named Untitled in
collaboration with the graphic designer Ian C Taylor. In 1991 they launched the magazine
Dazed & Confused which has since evolved into Dazed Media.
In December 2000 Rankin launched his own quarterly fashion magazine, Rank. He also
publishes AnOther Magazine AnOther Man and in 2011 founded Hunger a biannual fashion,
culture and lifestyle magazine and the associated Hunger TV website a video based digital
platform. In 2002 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic
Society. In 2002 his debut feature film The Lives of Saints co-directed with Chris Cottam
and written by Toni Grisoni won the Grand Jury prize at the Salento International Film
Festival.
He was involved with the television reality show Britain's Missing Top Model in 2008. The
show followed eight young women with disabilities who competed for a modelling contract
including a photo shoot with Rankin and a cover picture for Marie Claire. In April 2009
Rankin created Annroy a contemporary structure designed by Trevor Horne Architects that
is home to his own photographic studio gallery and penthouse space.
For seven weeks in 2009 with his Rankin Live project he photographed people straight off
the street completing one shoot every 15 minutes with the portraits printed and hung
within 30 minutes. He finally photographed 8,000 to 10,000 people for the project with
each subject getting a print of their portrait to take away.

9. How People See HisWork
“Synonymous with compelling
portraiture, Rankin's lens
captures, creates and unveils
icons”
-Photo.com
“instantly recognisable work
and star-studded portfolio”
-Insider
“One of the photographers
that shapes the future of
portrait, fashion, and
advertising photography is
Rankin”
-Fstoppers

10. Bibliography Page 7-9
Wikipedia . (2022). Rankin (photographer). Available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankin_(photographer). Last accessed 10th February 2022.
Photo.com. (2021). JOHN RANKIN. Available: https://www.all-about-
photo.com/photographers/photographer/217/john-rankin. Last accessed 10th February 2022.
charles clark. (2016). Inside the incredible life of one of the world's most successful
photographers. Available: https://www.businessinsider.com/rankin-inside-the-the-life-of-
britains-greatest-fashion-photographer-2016-4?r=US&IR=T. Last accessed 10th February 2022.
Illya Ovchar. (2021). World-Famous Photographer Rankin on Inspiration, Great Images, and More:
Exclusive Fstoppers Interview. Available: https://fstoppers.com/interview/world-famous-
photographer-rankin-inspiration-great-images-and-more-exclusive-578172. Last accessed 10th
February 2022.

11. James Jebbia
Founder of

12. His Career
James Jebbia was born on July 22 1963 in the United States. His American father was
formerly in the United States Air Force and his English mother is a former teacher. His
parents divorced when he was around 10 years old.
At one years old Jebbia's parents relocated from the U.S. to Crawley West Sussex in the
United Kingdom. In 1983 Jebbia moved back to the United States when he was 19 years
old settling in Staten Island New York City. In 1983 Jebbia's first job in New York was at
Parachute a minimalist skate shop and clothing store located in SoHo, Manhattan.
In 1989 he managed the streetwear store Union NYC which carried a mix of mostly
English clothing brands. Its first store opened in 1989 on Spring Street in Manhattan and
later closed in 2009. From 1991 to 1994, he partnered with Shawn Stussy the founder of
the clothing brand Stüssy. In 1994 Jebbia founded the clothing brand and skateboarding
shop Supreme and opened its first store on Lafayette Street in Manhattan. Among his
earliest designs was a cut-and-sew pair of tiger-stripe cargo pants. As of 2021 Supreme
has 13 locations worldwide one each in New York City, Brooklyn San Francisco Los
Angeles, London, Paris, Milan, and six in Japan Harajuku, Shibuya, Daikanyama, Nagoya,
Osaka, and Fukuoka. In 2017 Supreme collaborated with Louis Vuitton with their debut
collection unveiled during Paris Fashion Week. Jebbia has collaborated with high-profile
artists such as Damien Hirst Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince

13. How People See His Work
“THE MOST BRILLIANT
COLLAB OF THE YEAR”
-Highsnobiety
“The shop that carries the cool
stuff that everybody was
wearing—no big brands or
anything.”
-Vogue
“Supreme has changed streetwear
probably forever. The crossover from a
skating brand to the mainstream has
influenced a whole generation; street
and luxury. Someone once described
Supreme to me as ‘the Céline of
streetwear’ Everyone wants to be
Supreme.”
-GQ

14. Bibliography Page 11-13
Kyle Hodge. (2019). SUPREME X 'NEW YORK POST' COULD BE THE MOST BRILLIANT COLLAB OF
THE YEAR, HERE'S WHY. Available: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/supreme-new-york-post-
opinion/. Last accessed 11th February 2022.
ROBERT SULLIVAN. (2017). Charting the Rise of Supreme, From Cult Skate Shop to Fashion
Superpower. Available: https://www.vogue.com/article/history-of-supreme-skate-clothing-brand.
Last accessed 11th February 2022.
Teo van den Broeke. (2018). What fashionable people actually think of Supreme. Available:
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/what-fashion-people-think-of-supreme. Last accessed 11th
February 2022.

15. Brian Donnelly
Creator of
KAWS

16. His Career
Donnelly was born in 1974 in Jersey City New Jersey where he attended
St. Anthony High School. As a teenager Donnelly created a tag for himself
KAWS based on the way the letters looked the word in fact has no
meaning which he painted on the roof of an area building so that he could
see it outside while attending class in high school. He went on to attend
the School of Visual Arts in New York City receiving a Bachelor of Fine
Arts in illustration in 1996. Following graduation he briefly worked for
Jumbo Pictures as a freelance animator painting backgrounds for the
animated series 101 Dalmatians Daria and Doug.
Moving to New York City in the 1990s illegal graffiti was the first step of
Kaws learning his craft. Animator by da and graffiti artist by night Kaws
started subvertising billboards bus shelters and phone booths using a
skeleton key gifted to him by friend and fellow graffiti artist Barry McGee.
Using a key he created for himself he also started subvertising bus
shelters. Kaws has since subvertised in Paris London Berlin and Tokyo.
Kaws acrylic paintings and sculptures have many reapeating images all
meant to be universally understood surpassing languages and cultures.

17. How People See His
Work
“If you think that Paris
Hilton and the Kardashians
are important cultural
figures, then you’re likely to
think Kaws is an important
artist.”
-The Guardian
“When somebody
looks at my work and
talks about “street art”,
I wonder what they’re
looking at”
-GQ
“The amount of hype
around Kaws Figures is
quite impressive”
-Owity

18. Bibliography Page 15-17
steph harmon. (2019). 'It has created a sense of hostility': how Kaws made the art world pay attention. Available:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/sep/19/kaws-artist-exhibitons-melbourne-london-brooklyn. Last
accessed 16th February .
Thomas Barrie. (2021). ‘When somebody looks at my work and talks about “street art”, I wonder what they’re looking
at’. Available: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/kaws-interview. Last accessed 16th February .
Owity. (2019). WHY KAWS FIGURES ARE SO POPULAR. Available: https://owity.com/blogs/owity-blog/why-kaws-
figures-are-so-popular-art-toys. Last accessed 16th February .