Q&A: Pulitzer Prize winner Robin Givhan chronicles Virgil Abloh’s rise to fashion fame

With his calm and cool demeanor, fashion disruptor and multi-hyphenate Virgil Abloh artfully challenged the fashion industry’s traditions to leave his mark as a Black creative, despite his short-lived career.

In the years since his 2021 death at just 41, his vision and image still linger. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robin Givhan sheds new light on how Abloh ascended the ranks of one of the top luxury fashion houses and captivated the masses with her latest book, “Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh.”

In the book out Tuesday, Givhan documents Abloh’s early life growing up as the son of Ghanaian immigrants in Rockford, Illinois, his days as graduate student studying architecture and his working relationship and friendship with Kanye West.

Before taking the helm of Louis Vuitton as the house’s first Black menswear creative director, Abloh threw himself into his creative pursuits including fine art, architecture, DJing and design. Abloh remixed his interests