How Virgil Abloh’s “Post-Modern” Philosophy Inspires an Avant-Garde Revolution in Sustainability and Design
–Zara Korutz
Jakarie Whitaker’s American/Japanese fashion brand, Hikari no Yami, founded in 2019, embodies avant-garde, sustainable, and deconstructed design principles rooted in philosophy. At its core is the concept of “kintsugi,” the 15th-century Japanese practice of embracing brokenness and highlighting the beauty of repair. In Paris, Whitaker presented his AW25 collection, “Chapter 8: The Turn of the Screw,” supported by the Virgil Abloh Foundation and the “Post-Modern” Scholarship.
The “Post-Modern” initiative expands opportunities in the fashion industry by providing scholarships, mentorship, and career support to students who identify as Black or African American. Whitaker, a Fashion Trust U.S. 2025 Finalist, is a four-time recipient of the Virgil Abloh™️ “Post-Modern” Scholarship, established in 2020 at the Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) by Abloh himself.
Virgil Abloh is a modern-day revolutionary, a voice for the masses, and an inspiration for the future.— Jakarie Whitaker
I spoke with Jakarie via Zoom about our shared interests, including Virgil Abloh’s influence, Central Saint Martins (where he was recently accepted into the MA Fashion course), and the philosophy and power of the fashion “system”.
Zara Korutz/No Kill Mag: Let’s talk about Virgil’s impact on your work.
JW: I want to create a different world outside of the box, a philosophy influenced by Rei [Kawakubo] and Virgil. I combined their perspectives and tried to conceptualize them, especially for Hikari No Yami. I approach design from a revolutionary standpoint—how can I change the industry?
I like being an outsider because my work is about changing boundaries and questioning institutions. Fashion schools, like St. Martins, are part of the broken fashion system. It’s paradoxical because it’s both broken and amazing at the same time.
Since receiving the award, I’ve had many conversations about this. Look at Virgil—he didn’t go to fashion school. Neither did Rei. It’s a stark contrast to those who come out of Central Saint Martins with incredible stories.
Ultimately, it’s about betting on yourself. No school guarantees success; it’s about relentless work. I never expected anything in this industry to magically grant me success.
The Virgil scholarship and working at Off-White have opened incredible doors, much like getting into Central St. Martins. But while they offer opportunities, they don’t create the path.
I’m going to stop you for a second. I’m going to put the power on you knocking on the right doors. And when doors open, it’s because you’re supposed to be there.
I agree, but I also want to pay homage. Someone once told me I wouldn’t be where I am without the scholarship. They can’t dismiss the work I put in and the connections I built. That’s part of the broken fashion system—people assume success is handed out, but they don’t see the hard work behind it.
That is the progress. Let’s talk more about Virgil’s impact.
Virgil, like Rei Kawakubo, is one of the greatest designers of all time. He sampled high fashion in streetwear, creating a niche of social media-driven fashion. He popularized the hypebeast concept—those diagonal lines, Off-White, skater-meets-luxury $400 t-shirts. He made it mainstream, and we don’t give him enough credit for that.
A hundred percent, and I’d take it further. Virgil used fashion as communication. He saw it as a language beyond aesthetics. His success came from being a master communicator, combining fashion with other mediums.
He bridged the gap between the general consumer and the fashion kids who couldn’t afford luxury but could buy a $50 collab. He connected different cultures. Seeing him in Korea, China, and Japan, beloved because Off-White was a cultural bridge, was inspiring. My brand is primarily about philosophy—visual, digital, and physical communication of internal philosophy. Everyone has their own philosophy, and I want Hikari no Yami to express that duality, allowing people to choose their own ideals. That’s what makes you appreciate the garment. So, it’s that bridge of communication. I’m glad you brought it up because I’ve been trying to like to contextualize it myself, and that was the perfect example.
Fashion is a language. I’m writing a research chapter called “Manifesto,” exploring how art movements infiltrate change. It’s interesting to think about manifestos in relationship to fashion and the importance of the art movements to infiltrate change. Looking at the Black Arts Movement—its resistance, aesthetic, and power—shows how fashion reflects its time. Oddly, fashion dismisses itself as art, which is a whole other debate.
I agree that fashion designers aren’t artists.
I disagree.
Some designers are artists, but if you adhere to the business model, you have to make commercially viable clothes. I know artists do the same—
Yes, they do.
And art is a business, just like fashion.
Exactly.
If fashion designers are artists, they have to be great ones.
That’s why you have to go to Central Saint Martins. American capitalism conditions you to seek external validation for artistic identity. In postmodernism, art has no rules. If anything can be art, and art is communication, then there are no restrictions on who the artist can be. You know who said that fashion is not art? Diana Vreeland said fashion is not serious enough to be considered art. It’s too trivial. Fashion constantly places its own position as being “less than” art.
I do agree that fashion is art. It’s the most tangible form of art. That’s why I chose it as my medium—it’s timeless.
A great example is Virgil’s fashion film Peculiar Light. It highlights his communication skills and the power of collaboration to bring in other artists to connect to an art movement. The film transforms its wearers into individual artworks. And I think it’s the power that Virgil gave to the people to belong by saying, we are all here together. He gave the power of fashion to the people.
That’s why the argument that he wasn’t a “real” designer has been debunked. He made fashion and art accessible. I’m from Michigan, and he reached me in Flint. That alone is powerful. If you’re in a closed-off area in the U.S. or Japan, finding a designer with an untraditional business model is inspiring. It builds community.
You are a direct result of Virgil’s mission. He handed out his phone number and email. I read that during fashion week in 2016, he turned his phone off for eight hours and came back to 25,000 emails.
Yes, he gave his number to the first group of postmodern scholars and did Zoom calls with them to hear their ideas. When he judged the LVMH Prize after losing it himself, he told the semifinalists they didn’t really lose. One of his last Off-White collabs was with a Korean semifinalist. When I first got my mentor at Off-White, they wanted to help me build my portfolio and pitch collaborations. Virgil extended a hand to emerging designers, which is rare in fashion.
That accessibility turns it into an art movement. A movement is a collective of like-minded artists—thinkers, writers, designers, musicians—pushing culture forward.
Exactly.
It’s an intellectual shift, amplifying voices that hadn’t been heard before.
At the Fashion Scholarship Fund Gala, we made a tribute video for Virgil. I talked about carrying the torch. His mission with the Postmodern Scholarship was to bring others to the table, especially people of color. My goal with my brand is to create a fully sustainable avant-garde fashion brand from a Black perspective—something I haven’t seen before, especially from America and Flint, Michigan.
You are the torchbearer. You’re continuing Virgil’s work through your own brand, disrupting the system with a deconstructed avant-garde sensibility that is aligned with the system’s outsiders.
Exactly. My brand is luxury avant-garde contemporary streetwear with reverse tailoring—deconstructing the most structured piece of clothing. If you think of systems, the most structured systems are government, but when you think of clothes the most structured system is a tailored suit. It takes so much work to put into it. So, I’m deconstructing it and ripping it to shreds and creating something new. I combine an appreciation for Eastern philosophy, especially Japanese design, with the African American diaspora. What does it mean to be Black in America? How should we act, dress, or exist? My work challenges those norms.
I love that.
If you grow up in a predominantly Black neighborhood, you often hear that the only way out is through sports or music. My brand is my way of studying my identity as a Black man. Hikari no Yami is my philosophy book. By the last chapter, I hope to understand myself and bridge cultures.
Thank you, Jakarie, for the fabulous conversation.
Zara Korutz is a PhD Candidate at Massey University researching the work of Virgil Abloh. She earned an MA in Fashion Critical Studies (with Distinction, 2020) from Central Saint Martins, London, U.K. Zara lives in East Harlem with her dog Bijou.
Related Articles
