Almost six months after the death of its founder Virgil Abloh, Off-White has named Ib Kamara as its new image and art director.
In his new role, Kamara will now guide the vision and direction of the label, following Abloh’s premature death in November 2021.
Who is Ib Kamara?
Born in war-torn Sierra Leone in 1990, Ibrahim Kamara moved to Gambia to escape the violence, before relocating to London at age 11. After a brief stint studying medicine at his parents' request, he switched his path, studying fashion at Westminster Kingsway College, and then Central Saint Martins.
In 2016, Kamara worked on “2026”, a project that examined Black African masculinity, alongside the photographer Kristin-Lee Moolman. For the project, the pair street-cast male models in Soweto, South Africa, dressing them in clothes Kamara had found in dumpsters and upcycled into new outfits.
As part of the show Utopian Voices Here and Now, at Somerset House, it brought Kamara into contact with influential people, including Robbie Spencer, stylist and then-creative director of the magazine Dazed, who gave him his first fashion editorial.
With a distinct visual language, Kamara’s work challenges the norms of masculinity and menswear, often blurring lines with elements lifted from pan-African cultures. Along with Edward Enninful, the stylist who was appointed as editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017, Kamara is part of the vanguard of talented black men reshaping and reframing gender boundaries within fashion. In 2017, he worked with Stella McCartney on a series of collaborations called #StellaBy, which were shot in Nigeria by Nadine Ijewere.
In June 2018, he was appointed fashion editor at large for i-D magazine, and a little more than a year later, he was made senior fashion editor at large, while in 2019 he worked with Rihanna to launch her fashion brand, Fenty.
Kamara has also worked for the likes of Dior, Burberry and even Beyonce, and was a favourite of Virgil Abloh, who used the stylist across both of the labels he controlled.
In January 2021, Kamara was named editor-in-chief for Dazed magazine, and later that year, worked with H&M as creative advisor and stylist for its Circular Design collection. In November 2021, he received the Isabella Blow Award from the British Fashion Council for is contribution to the industry.
Kamara has taken to social media to express his gratitude for his new role at the label Abloh founded in 2012.
“Virgil will forever be with us. With me. He changed the world and left an indelible mark on anyone who encountered him and beyond," Kamara wrote.
"Generous with his time, mind and creativity — he saw everyone and created with all humans in mind. I am honoured to further link my ties to Off-White as their Art & Image Director and be a part of the team that will tell the rest of the story Virgil started writing for us all.”
First launched as Pyrex Vision in Milan in 2012, Abloh's label was subversive and notable for being his first venture without his long time mentor, Kanye West. The name change came about to better reflect what Abloh described as "the grey area between black and white as the colour off-white".
Since his death at 41, rumours have been circulating about who would take over Abloh’s role as menswear designer at the French house of Louis Vuitton and the creative direction of Off-White.
Scroll through the gallery below to see more of Virgil Abloh
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American designer Virgil Abloh arrives at his exhibition at Doha Fire Station in Qatar's capital on November 4. The designer has died from cancer aged 41. AFP -
The US designer before his autumn-winter collection show for fashion house Louis Vuitton during Men's Fashion Week in Paris in January 2020. Reuters -
US model Gigi Hadid and Abloh arrive for the 2019 CFDA fashion awards at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City in June 2019. AFP -
For autumn/winter 2021, Virgil Abloh combined a kilt with a double breasted jacket. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
Wearing a durag, and a coat cut to trail on the floor, a model appears in the autumn/winter 2021 show, Louis Vuitton menswear, by Virgil Abloh. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
Abloh acknowledges the audience at the end of the Louis Vuitton men's autumn-winter 2019-2020 collection fashion show in Paris, in January 2019. AFP -
A model walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton Menswear spring/summer 2022 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 22, 2021 in Paris, France. Getty Images -
Model Kendall Jenner and Abloh attend the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum, New York City, in May 2018. AFP -
Abloh and Bella Hadid attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, in June 2017. AFP -
A look combines basketball shorts and a tailored jacket for spring/summer 2022, Louis Vuitton menswear, by Virgil Abloh. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
DJ Abloh attends Paper Magazine Sprout By HP & DKNY Break the Internet Issue Release in Miami, Florida, in December 2014. AFP -
A model is wrapped in a kente cloth, as part of the autumn/winter 2021 collection by Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
Ghanaian-American designer Virgil Abloh waves after the presentation of his spring/summer 2020 Men's collection for Louis Vuitton during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 20 June 2019. EPA -
Virgil Abloh on the red carpet for the 2021 Met Gala, September 13, 2021. EPA -
Virgil Abloh and models walk the runway during Off-White Menswear autumn/winter 2019-2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 16, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images -
For Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2021, Virgil Abloh created a suit of sheer silk, filled with down. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
As part of the autumn/winter 2021 Louis Vuitton collection, Virgil Abloh created a jacket using famous Parisian landmarks. Photo: Louis Vuitton -
Fashion designer Virgil Abloh walks the runway during the Off-White show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear autumn/winter 2016/2017 on March 8, 2016 in Paris, France. Getty Images
