Kanye West rumoured to be the Louis Vuitton Menswear Creative Director

With the passing of the great late creative director for Louis Vuitton Menswear, Virgil Abloh, less than a month ago, rumor mills have been making rounds about Virgil's potential successor for his esteemed position at the French high-end label. Unreliable sources from tabloids including The Sun and DailyMail have reported, based on anonymous tip that rapper and designer Kanye West will be stepping into Virgil Abloh's shoes.

"The pair are said to have masterminded the move, which would install the singer at the heart of the fashion industry, before Virgil’s death aged just 41," The Sun reported. “Kanye is devastated about Virgil’s death because they had been friends for years and worked together a lot. They shared a similar vision and now Kanye feels he owes it to Virgil to continue his work at Louis Vuitton.”

Although these claims seem to be baseless, as the do not come from a source working for Louis Vuitton or West himself, West isn't someone who cannot be expected to be considered as next in line. Abloh and West had collaborated long before either of them made it big into fashion. Their bond of friendship began in 2009, when they both served as interns at Fendi, and the preceding year Abloh became West's creative director of "Donda House". West and Abloh's support for one another was well known through their own fashion endeavors, West's Yeezy and Abloh's Off-White.

 When Abloh was appointed creative director at Louis Vuitton in 2018, he became the first Black American to serve as creative director for  a French luxury fashion house. During an interview with Zane Lowe, West expressed jealousy, saying, "I felt like it was supposed to be me. I was the Louis Vuitton Don. People still called me the Louis Vuitton Don on the street." Back in 2209, before the advent of the Yeezy sneaker, West first collaborated with Louis Vuitton on an exclusive sneaker collection, which still remains a much sought-after collection for collectors, with a rare pair fetching up to of $30,000.