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Like Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Gianni Versace before him, the late Virgil Abloh leaves a powerful legacy. What does this mean for Off-White and Louis Vuitton?

Virgil Abloh was an icon and trailblazer. Called the Karl Lagerfeld of his generation, he brought intellectualism to streetwear with his label Off-White, while, conversely, injecting luxury giant Louis Vuitton with the ethos of hip-hop and skate culture.

But he also changed the fashion industry well beyond these brands, pushing the boundaries of collaboration, shaking up outmoded systems for creating and distributing products and opening the doors of fashion’s ivory tower to a wider cast of people, in particular young Black creatives, no matter if they lacked formal training.

His most significant legacy may ultimately be the way he reinvented what a creative director does: Abloh was multi-hyphenate talent, not just a designer and a DJ, but a branding maestro and a natural community builder who encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. “You can do it, too,” he used to say.

And yet, his talent was somehow singular. Which begs the question: can anyone replace him?

Louis Vuitton is a colossus that is far bigger than any one designer. As Vuitton chairman Michael Burke said in a recent interview, “the death of a designer is traumatic, but it’s not the death of the brand. Not at Vuitton.” Whether Virgil’s successor at the mega-label will deliver continuity or disruption remains to be seen.

But what does Abloh’s death mean for Off-White? Can the brand founded by the designer continue to grow on the back of the powerful legacy that he leaves?

Brief histories of Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Versace may offer some signposts for what could be — or at least at add some context to the question.

Saint Laurent, the Kering-owned mega-label we know today, was built on the legacy of designer Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most transformative forces in 20th century fashion. He changed the way women dressed: replacing the signature cinched waist with a more fluid silhouette for his critically acclaimed debut collection for Christian Dior in January 1958; designing blazers, trousers and suits for women after debuting Le Smoking in 1966; and freeing the nipple with sheer organza blouses and transparent tops at the height of the sexual revolution in the late 1960s.

He incorporated art into his fashions, most notably with his 1965 Mondrian collection, but also in his use of Van Gogh, Warhol, Picasso, Matisse and Braque. He broke down boundaries in media and advertising, posing nude for the ad campaign for his first men’s fragrance in 1971, and was an early champion of diversity, casting the likes of Iman, Rebecca Ayoko, Katoucha Niane and Dalma Callado. He also added a new category to high fashion as the first couturier to create ready-to-wear.

YSL was acquired by the Gucci Group (now Kering) in 1999. Initially enthusiastic about the deal, Yves remained at the helm of the couture business whilst Tom Ford took over ready-to-wear. But as soon as Ford started to deviate from Yves’ codes, the knives came out.“ The poor guy does what he can,” said Yves to a gaggle of reporters.

Stefano Pilati hued close to the brand’s original DNA, faithfully reworking Le Smoking, the brand’s famous safari jackets and tulip skirts over his eight-year tenure. He also created one of the brand’s all-time bestsellers: the Tribute sandal. During his eight-year tenure, the brand grew turnover from €169 million to €344 million.

But major commercial success came, later, when Hedi Slimane took the reins in 2012, four years after Yves’ death. No doubt freed from the past, Slimane, inspired by the disruptive roots of the brand, mined its rock ‘n’ roll spirit, rebranding it as Saint Laurent and growing the brand to a turnover of €974 million within four years. In 2016, Slimane was succeeded by Anthony Vaccarello and the brand is now a major contributor of revenue and profit to Kering, surpassing €2 billion in sales 2019.

Alexander ‘Lee’ McQueen was undoubtedly one of fashion’s greatest disruptors. He combined mind-blowing technical ability — his team learned never to say no to a challenge because they would often come into the studio in the morning to find a finished garment that McQueen had spent the night resolving himself — with an innate sense of theatrics and the desire to explore uncomfortable themes.

One of his first shows, “Highland Rape,” featured ravaged models in lace dresses, Scottish tartan and provocative tailoring. Its low-cut garments spearheaded a fashion trend that dominated the early noughties. The finale of his 13th show featured a spinning Shalom Harlow in a puffy white dress as two robotic arms from a car manufacturing plant sprayed her with paint in what was one of the first uses of high technology at a fashion show. “Voss,” his most memorable show, ended with a large nude woman covered in live moths, her face obscured by a gas mask. His final collection was beamed to the world in what was fashion’s first Internet livestream.

After the designer’s suicide in 2010, the future of the Alexander McQueen brand was unknown: its DNA wasn’t fully formed, and though its collections were selling, it had not yet become a real commercial success. But Sarah Burton, Lee’s right-hand for 14 years, was able to take the essence of McQueen and imbue it with her own identity, drawing upon the same themes explored by the designer to celebrate craftsmanship and produce flattering clothes, taking the brand to a new level of commercial success, symbolised by the Duchess of Cambridge wearing McQueen for her wedding.

Gianni Versace was a rare fashion genius, too. Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford walking down a runway lip-syncing to George Michael’s “Freedom! 90″ was one of history’s most iconic fashion moments. The man who orchestrated it? Gianni Versace. He also helped launch the career of actress Elizabeth Hurley and pioneered the concept of celebrity front rows.

“Much of what is considered de rigueur about fashion … [Versace] put his stamp on in his 1990′s glory days — the splashy, expensively made ad campaigns; the star-studded front rows; indeed, the entire fashion-celebrity nexus,” noted Vogue.