Virgil Abloh’s Lockdown Playlist

Music is vital to Virgil Abloh. Before he founded Off-White in 2013 and took the reins as men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, the first African American to helm a major global luxury brand, in 2018, Abloh was a deejay. “I always have music playing in the background of pretty much everything I do,” he said. That goes for when he’s in Chicago with his family, at Vuitton’s Paris headquarters, or in Tokyo with his latest collaborator, the Japanese streetwear pioneer Nigo.

Now, like the rest of us in this coronavirus crisis, Abloh is working from home, trying to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease. This is easier said than done for the famous multi-hyphenate; before his own illness last year (unrelated to the coronavirus), Abloh famously took eight international flights a week. One way he’s keeping himself busy is by sharing the songs that are soundtracking his downtime with Vogue.

The jazz legend Miles Davis, the American rapper Jay Electronica, and the Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai are all in the mix, but that’s just a hint of the eclecticism of his 17-track playlist. “This is the latest batch of what I’m listening to,” Abloh said. “Much like my art and design practice, my musical tastes know no boundaries; they don’t fit nicely within any box… The songs are just as varied in their genre-less thinking as I am.”

We asked Abloh if there was a standout song that would surprise his 5.1 million followers. Apparently not. “We are of a generation where this way of thinking and living—not locking ourselves into one box or role—is being deemed as formally okay,” he said in full spirit leader mode.