VIRGIL WAS HERE

VIRGIL WAS HERE

This expression is now the theme of the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2022 collection Virgil Abloh designed. Virgil was the iconic creative force behind the menswear collection and other cultural markers of our time. He recently died at the age of 41 after a two-year private battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

WAS HERE

How can two words so completely sum up a life? What’s striking about this statement is that it will one day be true for us all.

WAS HERE

The words are sobering to say the least leaving us to wonder what now is left where here remains.

Loss often extends that invitation — to reconsider our past steps and cautiously consider the next we may take. But something about Virgil Abloh’s life and legacy extends a different invitation — to not merely step, but to dare to soar. And to do so in community lifting others up to purpose and possibility with each step we take. And to communicate this intention with vigor, discipline, generosity, courage and creativity even in the face of great suffering.

Even if we have only learned of Virgil posthumously, many of us knew him — through his art and his cultural expressions of what’s possible which for Virgil seemed to be a relentless pursuit of the impossible.

VIRGIL WAS GIFTED

VIRGIL WAS BELOVED

VIRGIL LIVED GENEROUSLY

As I reflect on his impact, I can’t help but extend an invitation to you — to consider what words will offer glimpses into your life and legacy that you choose to create daily, moment by moment, decision by decision. I extend this invitation to us all.

YOU ARE GIFTED

YOU ARE BELOVED

BELIEVE

MAY YOU FIND YOUR WAY TODAY

MAY YOU LIVE GENEROUSLY TODAY

May you soar far beyond your weakest was. May you find redemption in your journey and may your life be lived sweetly in beauty and in service to humanity.

May you believe in the impossible. Virgil did.

TODAY YOU ARE.

Let those three words invite you to look forward to what lies ahead pressing on, forgetting what may have been, and taking hold of the joy and new mercy in this new day. Each new day.

TODAY BE

MAY YOU SOAR

BY GRACE ALONE

Thank you, God, for the gift of Virgil’s life. We believe. VIRGIL IS. NOW WITH YOU.