Texts From Virgil

To Virgil Abloh, Instagram was the equivalent of a creative directory, something he’d scroll through to find collaborators and keep up with friends’ careers. “If someone has the right personality, I direct message them and ask them to work on projects for me,” he said in 2019. For those on the receiving end of Mr.…

Every Object Was a Canvas

Throughout his life, Virgil Abloh was obsessed with the idea of collaboration, and many of his partnership projects were cornerstones of hypebeast culture. This makes sense for a cross-disciplinary artist who sharpened the visions of other artists, including Kanye West and ASAP Rocky. As the founder and chief executive of Off-White and, later, the artistic…

Oh, to Be Mentored by Virgil Abloh

In the fashion world, few people were more committed to mentoring the next generation of creative talent than Virgil Abloh. As an untrained designer, he sought to level the playing field because of his own struggles to break into the top echelons of the business. Mr. Abloh, who died on Sunday, took part in several…

The Art Basel Circus Comes to Town

The tropical bacchanal of art fairs, private dinners and A-list parties known as Art Basel Miami Beach has returned with a vengeance. Here are some highlights from Tuesday night. Sashimi and Watches Sadly, the guest of honor at the Tag Heuer party wasn’t able to make it. The basketball star Jimmy Butler, who plays for…

Getting Better at Uncertainty

Welcome. It was midway through Thanksgiving dinner when my phone buzzed with The Times’s push alert about the new variant. I contemplated not sharing the news with the table — better to let them enjoy the meal in peace — but I remembered that these were the very people from whom the virus had kept…