“Seeing Power and Refusing to Give in to Cynicism”

It’s always nerve-racking. You’re like, this is my baby. I hope the world doesn’t think my baby’s ugly.

A big thing, obviously, is that people were so interested in his work and in his career trajectory. I had complicated feelings about his work, about what he represented within the traditional fashion industry. I half-jokingly say that anyone who wants to know what I thought of his work—all the receipts are there in Google.

At the same time, I was really struck by the impact that he had with his customer. And so for me, that tension between what I was thinking about the garments and what his fans were [into] was interesting, and as a writer, you know that’s what makes something worth delving into, when there is some kind of tension, and you’re trying to figure that out.

One of the biggest hurdles for me was the technique, right? The ability to make the clothes fit as well as the clothes needed to fit. The ability to take the existing fashion vocabulary and to say something new and different with it. Obviously, no one’s reinventing like the shirt except for maybe Rei Kawakubo. But, you know, really interesting designers are able to create a vocabulary and then say new and interesting things using that vocabulary season after season. And I didn’t feel like Virgil was really doing that with the clothes and particularly with women.

I was like, what is your point of view? What made his menswear cool are these varsity jackets and the sense of being in the now, on the street, in the mix. And then you’re giving me a women’s collection with poofy dresses inspired by Princess Diana? R.I.P.

One of the things that [graphic designer] Michael Rock said to me was that if Virgil made a little black dress, the point of the dress was not what event the person might be wearing it to. It was the meaning of that dress. The meaning of putting his brand on that dress. It was a very challenging thing to wrap your head around because traditionally in fashion it is the look of the dress that conveys everything. It is the fit of the dress and the style of the dress that convey everything. And Virgil had this incredible ability to create a brand, and then to kind of backfill it with meaning instead the other way around.

What he was able to communicate with his brand was much more nuanced and much more human than what had typically been communicated with a brand like Chanel, or Gucci or even a Vuitton.

I think he was in the process of doing that. Sadly, he didn’t have enough time to fully break down those walls, but I think it made a tremendous impact. I think he really went a long way in just sort of freeing up designers who might have started there.

Take someone like, you know, like Jerry Lorenzo [founder of Fear of God]. He started with T-shirts and essentials, but is certainly a huge part of this. You can see what he puts on the runway, you see work at the Met Gala, and you can’t deny that yeah, that is a vision of luxury.

I used to complain a lot about the way that people, particularly in the US, would refer to luxury. Anything that’s expensive, people just automatically call it luxury. Even if it’s poorly made. If it has a big price tag on it, that’s luxury. And Virgil really focused on the idea of luxury being whatever matters deeply to you and what elevates you in the eyes of your community. And that depends on what your community is and how you define that. But I would say that the traditional ideas about luxury and the technique and the craftsmanship—there’s part of me that certainly laments that that is becoming more and more of a niche part of fashion.

There are definitely people who care deeply about the quality of those darts and the buttonholes and all of those kinds of things. I have incredible admiration for the people who can make those garments. But sadly, I think that is more niche and the much larger category is, “What does this mean to me and does it have a meaning of value?” If so, then that is a luxury.

I think about a $900 Balenciaga T-shirt.

That is something that resonates with a particular generation and community. It’s defined as a luxury simply because of that price tag and the fact that people know how much you paid for that Britney Spears T-shirt.

And then, you know, as I mentioned in the book, you get to the world of sneakers and there’s an incredible connoisseurship that exists in that world. If we had a bonus position in features, I would hire someone to cover the aesthetics, the culture, the business, the ethics of sneakers.

I do think that his connection to sneakers remains incredibly strong. And without that connection, I don’t think he would have gotten the Vuitton job.

I am not a sneaker head at all. And as I was researching that part of it, my own toddler-like sneaker game improved slightly, and I was walking my dog and some guy looks at me goes, “Oh nice sneakers.” I didn’t know that I needed that validation, but it felt like I had cracked a little tribe or something.

I’m still trying to, like, parse out why I responded the way that I did. I think some of it is because I know those people have the expertise so when they say, “Oh, good job,” it’s coming from a place of deep knowledge as opposed to a nice color.

He had been this outsider who had finally gotten to the center of it all. All of that optimism and warm fuzziness was injected into that first collection.

Over time, I do think he became more focused on the idea of his own culture and Black culture and bringing that into the Vuitton vocabulary. And I wish that he had had more time because I am really curious to think how he would respond to this moment. I was always continually amazed at how compressed his professional career was in fashion. And how much change happened during that incredibly short time period.

I would love to have seen how he would speak to the issues like diversity and speak to the tension between being an insider now and how much of a rebel can you be or should you be.

I would just also add the idea that someone like Michael Burke would sign off on that. I said to him: “What did the people at Fendi think when you said, ‘Oh, we’ve got these two interns coming? A rapper and his sidekick?’”

He was like, “They thought I completely lost my mind, but in hindsight, of course, usually when people respond that way, it’s like I’m doing something right.”

The question of Kanye was one of the challenges of the book. And one of things I remember was the first Yeezy show, with Vanessa Beecroft’s choreography. It was a chaotic show because there were all these celebrities. But it was an interesting statement. And then at the end of it, Kanye made this statement about how he was bringing creativity to fashion. He essentially said that fashion was too cowardly. And I responded to that in the review, just saying that yes, fashion does need to be more creative. But to suggest that designers don’t want to be [creative] or they’re too lazy? It’s so insulting. Unlike music, where people can sit back and enjoy, people have to wear fashion and there are certain limitations as a result. I think about the way that Virgil approached things, and he was very much like, there’s a lot I don’t know. Share your knowledge with me, help me. It’s like the old cliche of sometimes you just get more with honey.

In general, I’m an optimist. So, the time and attention and the money that was raised through Superfine at the Met is something. And someone like Sergio Hudson dressing almost two dozen people on the red carpet. He’s a tremendous tailor and dressmaker with a gorgeous color sense. I think Sergio could be hired at any major legacy brand and succeed.

I think of Grace Wales Bonner in London, whose work is phenomenal and is really engaged in a conversation about diversity and inclusivity, as well as nobility and aristocracy and richness. I feel like there is still an opening. There are still pathways. As long as you don’t mention DEI [laughs].

There are a vast array of extraordinarily talented, accomplished designers who are ready for the next step. And they come in an array of colors.

I would take the Bushwick Birkin over the Walmart Birkin.

There’s a part of me that thinks Virgil would really appreciate all of that, because his notion was always that there’s a Black kid in Rockford, Illinois, who could go and buy a pair of Nike sneakers and could cut them up and make their own version and that’s really like a beautiful and empowering thing.

Probably more so than ever. From who made this, and under what circumstances, and how do I feel about those circumstances, and how much control do I have over them. All of those things relate to personal aesthetics and personal identity. Everything is also so woven into our political culture, it’s almost impossible to explain.

Virgil always talked about being an optimist. And he wasn’t coming from a place of naivete. It was coming from a place of really seeing power and refusing to give in to cynicism. I really admired that about him.

Thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure, and I really enjoy your work so it’s a delight.