Shaun White, an Olympic gold medalist has received the Louis Vuitton treatment en-route to the Beijing Games.
Snowboarder Shaun White and the late Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh met shortly before the sudden demise of the latter.
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It was during the 2021 ski season. Aged 34, White had already won three Olympic gold medals and 23 X Games medals.
Later, he branched out into acting, video games, and music festivals.
His namesake brand, Whitespace, officially launched on Jan. 13 with a limited-edition signed snowboard.
Virgil was a passionate snowboarder himself and an architect by education.
He founded Off-white, a luxury streetwear label, in 2012.
Shaun and Virgil worked different careers but established a friendship that has continued to influence the snowboarder to this day.
Speaking to Men’s Health, Shaun reminisced the company of Virgil.
It was through Virgil’s influence that Shaun adopted the hypebeast model of streetwear for his own company.
Whitespace’s 50-unit drop of a limited-edition snowboard signed and numbered by Shaun White himself sold out almost instantly.
“I always wanted to make a Louis Vuitton trunk that carries my equipment,” White said.
Unsurprisingly, Virgil Abloh was excited about the project from the start.
That conversation resulted in a snowboard case and guitar case – two firsts for the fashion house – both embossed with the LV logo.
Each piece represents the continuation of Abloh’s influence on the design house.
Like others around the world, news of Virgil’s passing shocked Shaun.
“It was so jarring – we had plans to go snowboard,” White said. “I heard the news and was flattened like everyone was. Like, wow, what a loss.”
SOURCE: GhanaCelebrities.Com