2B — Thursday, April 11, 2019
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Virgil Abloh has become one of
the biggest names in the modern
fashion world, and not for a lack of
effort. He started his career as a
creative director for Kanye West,
directing for albums like 808s
And Heartbreak, My Beautiful
Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch
the Throne. A few years after
interning at Fendi in 2009, he
began designing his own clothes,
starting two brands that would
in turn lead him to creatively
direct another big firm. His third
was one of the biggest brands in
the world. From Pyrex Vision to
OFF-WHITE to Louis Vuitton,
Abloh started with a vision and
saw it through each step of the
way.
Abloh started Pyrex Vision
in late 2012, launching the
first collection at RSVP, the
Chicago boutique he opened
with designer Don C a few
years earlier. The idea behind
Pyrex Vision was simple: Take
regular Ralph Lauren flannels
and Champion garments, screen
print a number and a logo on
the back and sell it for hundreds
of dollars above the price it
originally sold for (the Ralph/
Pyrex flannel retailed for $550).
Call it what you want, but with
Abloh’s vision and the support
of Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and
others that called themselves the
“#been#trill” crew, Pyrex Vision
started a cultural revolution
within streetwear that would
continue on with Abloh’s legacy.
With Pyrex Vision selling out
on nearly every release, Abloh
was able to shelf the brand for his
bigger and still active brand OFF-
WHITE. The first collection
launched
for
Spring/Summer
2014, and with this brand, Abloh
told Style.com that his goal was
to “merge street sensibilities in
a proper fashion context.” In
the years since this first launch,
OFF-WHITE has done exactly
that and plenty more, achieving
the perfect balance between the
pinnacle of streetwear within
the youth while selling at nearly
every luxury retailer next to
fashion giants like Gucci, Celine
and Louis Vuitton.
OFF-WHITE not only has
given Abloh the opportunity
to showcase more of his vision,
but has led him to collaborate
with almost every corner of the
industry. Just in the past two
years he released OFF-WHITE
suitcases
with
RIMOWA,
launched an art exhibit with
Takashi
Murakami,
designed
merch for Kids See Ghosts
and Travis Scott and released
an entire rug collection with
IKEA, all while DJing shows at
Lollapalooza,
ASTROWORLD
and Camp Flog Gnaw. Among
these collaborations is one of
the biggest launches he’s had at
this point in his career: “The 10”
sneaker collection released with
Nike. Abloh and OFF-WHITE
brought Nike their first must-
need sneaker since the death
of the Air Jordan Retro (queue
“Facts (Charlie Heat Version)” by
Kanye West). 10 pairs of sneakers,
nine of which released within
a two-hour span, that became
nearly impossible to purchase
with all the hype surrounding
the release. The coveted sneakers
can now be found selling on
Stockx for a lovely price of $1,150
and solidified Abloh’s place as one
of the biggest icons of modern
streetwear.
At that point, Virgil Abloh
had nearly reached the top of
the fashion Mount Olympus. The
only thing left to bring him up
was his appointment as creative
director of Louis Vuitton. The
announcement of Kim Jones’s
replacement broke the internet,
and nearly every celebrity ran to
Instagram to congratulate him.
His first show included a rainbow
runway the length of the Palais
Royale Gardens, vibrant baggy
clothes modeled by none other
than Kid Cudi and Playboi Carti
and ended with a tearful hug
with his former Fendi co-intern
Kanye West. Abloh certainly did
not disappoint the viewers of
his Spring/Summer 2019 show,
especially with this keep-all
bag that stole every eye in the
vicinity.
With
the
continuation
of
OFF-WHITE, more incredible
Louis Vuitton handbags (see
the glow) and all of the random
collaborations that make him so
great, Virgil Abloh isn’t going
anywhere. With each coming
year, more people assume he’s
reached his peak and with each
year he surpasses the last. One
of the leaders of the Instagram
generation and the new king of
luxury, Abloh will continue to
be the most talked about figures
of our time. Let’s just hope he
can still make time to premiere
unreleased music at his DJ sets.
Virgil Abloh’s three brands
that are moving to the top
LOUIS HAMATI
For The Daily
There
is
nothing
more
comforting than a triad of
notes, hanging in the air.
It seems perfect, like the
combination of three fingers
pressing
three
keys
was
always meant to be. The root
note rounds out a floating
base, the second, a filler, the
third, a cherry on top.
In pop music, the natural
ease of triads comes easy and
quick. If you listen to anything
currently on the top 40 radio
charts, I bet you that there is an
obvious triad of notes hiding
somewhere in the chorus.
Even more specifically, The
Chainsmokers have really run
with this basic musical theory
into the seemingly never-
ending sunset, and I will
never get “baby pull me closer
in the back seat of your Rover”
out of my head. It’s not by
choice, trust me. The human
brain just loves the sound of
threes, no matter how cliché
they may be in music — it’s
truly the original earworm.
My interest, however, is
not with The Chainsmokers
— it is in the breakdown and
power of those chords the
band has built a pop empire
upon. The EDM duo is not
alone in this hack of the music
industry’s machine: Sia has
written the majority of her
songs in less than 15 minutes,
so did Amy Winehouse, and
for the love of God, listen to
the pre-Revolver Beatles once
and a while and try to find a
progression that you couldn’t
make up just sitting at the
piano for fun. Instrumental
aficionados
and
beginners
alike are familiar with the
range
that
understanding
chords can give you alone,
without any real idea of the
notes that are inside of them.
They just sound good, like
you’ve discovered something
completely new and perfect
despite their age-old history.
And in that natural feel
comes the magic of chords.
The frustration of learning a
new instrument is soon offset
by the excitement of creating
something with your own
hands, something that sounds
fantastic and offers you a new
realm of possibilities. They’re
an accessible way to start
playing, and a comfortable
ending point for those who
don’t want to go down the
long and winding path that
is music theory. I personally
wouldn’t
consider
myself
a virtuoso, but I learned
piano
and
guitar
through
chords and can survive on
that alone. Some of the most
talented songwriters followed
basic
chord
progressions,
eschewing complex melodies
for
the
innate
beauty
of
simplicity. There’s a reason
Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On
Heaven’s Door” is often one
of the first songs that people
learning guitar pick up: G, D,
A minor and C are all three-
pronged
chords,
an
easy
starting place from which to
learn more.
The
ubiquity
of
triadic
chords in popular music does
not devalue them. In fact,
their
commonality
makes
them an even more important
skill in the process of learning
an instrument. They’re the
base that jam sessions are
born out of, that songwriting
begins with, that campfire
singing picks up from. When
you learn the basics, you open
a whole world to explore,
one that most other people
are familiar with. With the
first chord you figure out,
your fingers shaking over the
three strings, the three keys,
the three notes in the air,
you finally have the ability to
connect with all of the music
that’s ever been written. It
seems dramatic, but it’s true.
Chords are the framework of
every song structure, the floor
on which a melody dances. If
you can sing, all you need is
a handful of notes and you’re
golden. Especially three.
The magic of three notes
and learning new chords
CLARA SCOTT
Senior Arts Editor
COLUMBIA RECORDS
B-SIDE: MUSIC
From a genetic standpoint,
every
living
organism
is
a composite of billions of
combinations
of
activated
and deactivated genes. And
these genes, facilitated over
millennia of evolution, is
what leads you to be you and
me to be me. In that sense, we
are all just manifestations
of the linkages between our
individual, evolved genetic
makeup. The key features
that make us who we are are
linked in some way, some
connect-the-dot biology that
manifests into a walking,
living
human.
The
same
way
that
an
individual’s
particular
traits
interact
with one another to build
that individual, a city’s key
features link together to build
that city’s identity. It is this
capacity for social linkage
that makes Philadelphia the
City of Brotherly Love, that
makes Columbus the mound
of garbage that it is and that
makes Ann Arbor the home
of the Wolverines.
Most
people
see
Ann
Arbor
as
a
scattered
plot
of
bizarrely-angled
intersections
of
one-
way streets and four-lane
throughways dotted with a
blend of ancient and modern
buildings
with
no
real
definite
organization,
but
in reality, the city focuses
around a very defined track.
The most popular and well-
known parts of Ann Arbor
and the University can be
found along a single, thought-
out pathway, guiding one
through
the
city’s
most
important features.
Through research, I have
identified
this
pathway
as taking the shape of the
number three, starting at
Zingerman’s in Kerrytown
and ending at the Big House.
By
drawing
the
number
three on a map of Ann
Arbor, one can discover the
mathematically-aligned
key features of the city that
make it the Ann Arbor we all
know and love.
We start with the top
left tip of the three at
Zingerman’s in Kerrytown,
home
of
the
greatest
sandwiches that Ann Arbor
has to offer. Though not
frequented quite as much by
undergraduates, it is held
near and dear to the hearts
of alumni who now have the
money to pay for its riches.
We
move
east
from
Kerrytown
through
Old
Fourth Ward, and toe the
lines
of
the
University’s
hospital
forming
the
top
curve of the number. The
curve
continues
along
Observatory, and cuts into
the heart of central campus
before reaching South U,
forming the central apex
of the three at The Diag.
Surrounded by classrooms
and auditoriums of grand
performance, the Diag sits
just
adjacent
from
State
Street, becoming the cross-
section of almost everything
Ann Arbor prides itself in:
World-class teaching, good
food, artistic appreciation
and the acknowledgement of
the University’s storied past,
highlighted by the forbidden
M of the class of 1953.
We circle back out under
the engineering arch and
clip the fringes of South
U, just enough to hear the
hum of Pinball Pete’s and
shouting
from
Charley’s
and Jug, voices of ghosts
whose Saturday nights went
on far too long. The bottom
curve of the three stretches
is
through
Ross,
cutting
diagonally across Packard,
sharply hooking to the gates
of the Big House. What
better place to end the three
than Michigan Stadium? It is
the only place where one can
truly see and feel the brevity
and depth of Ann Arbor’s
spiritual effect not only on
students, alumni and our
rivals, but also general fans
of the University and our
city.
In some strange way of
social
and
geographical
evolution, the most salient
features of Ann Arbor that
bring
people
here
from
around the world can be
traced out using the number
three,
linking
the
city’s
“genes” that make it the Ann
Arbor we know and love.
From Zingerman’s, to The
Diag, through to the Big
House, the number three
outlines Ann Arbor’s places
to be.
Ann Arbor’s organization,
but make it cartographic
ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA
Daily Arts Writer
B-SIDE: COMMUNITY CULTURE
They say three is a magic
number. Every child knows
that the way to tell a story is
to have a beginning, a middle
and an end. At film schools all
across America, the three-act
structure is taught like the
holy gospel, the magical story
sauce that will make your
movie compelling. Nowhere
is this more evident than
in the all-powerful movie
trilogy, the holy grail of film
series lengths.
Of course, modern movie
franchises have found it hard
to contain themselves to only
three movies. As long as part
three is still bringing in the
dough, you can be sure that
parts four and five are not far
behind. That doesn’t change
the fact that when people talk
about the greatest film series
of all time, they more often
than not bring up trilogies.
“Star Wars,” “The Lord of the
Rings,” ‘Back to the Future,”
‘Indiana
Jones,”
“The
Matrix,”
“The
Godfather,”
the list goes on and on
and on. There’s something
perennially powerful about
the three-act structure, and
the trilogy is the three-act
structure taken to its most
grandiose state.
The setup is as universal
as it is simple. The first film
constructs
an
intriguing
world filled with wonderful
characters, and provides a
simple story that seemingly
resolves
at
the
end,
but
leaves room for growth. The
second film throws a ton
of
complications
into
the
mix, adds characters and an
overarching
narrative
and
ends on a huge cliffhanger.
The
third
one
wraps
everything up.
Many of the best “second
in
a
trilogy”
films
are
rightly accused at their time
of release as being over-
complicated movies that only
exist to lead into a third movie.
That’s true, but is that really
a fair criticism if the movies
are meant to act as a cycle?
Would it be fair to complain
that the second act of a play
only exists to set up the
third? Many second chapters
fair better upon release of
the third, and audiences can
see where all this is going.
Conversely, if the third film
is bad it can retroactively
hurt the second one as well.
“The Empire Strikes Back”
was controversial when first
released due to the unfinished
feeling of its ending, but ever
since “Return of the Jedi” it
has been considered the best
of all the “Star Wars.” On
the flip side, “Dead Man’s
Chest”
and
“The
Matrix
Reloaded” were both hurt
in the eyes of geek history
by
the
disappointment
of
their follow-ups (for what
it’s worth, I love all three
“Pirates” films, but I digress).
Of course, sometimes the
trilogy isn’t allowed to stand
on
its
own.
“Star
Wars”
has all manners of sequels,
prequels and spin-offs since
the original trilogy wrapped
up almost forty years ago.
“Lord of the Rings” was
eventually followed by “The
Hobbit,”
and
even
“Toy
Story,” which seemingly had
closed the book as hard as
it could possibly be closed,
is coming back this summer
for a fourth go around. These
extra movies often hurt the
perfectly balanced symmetry
of a trilogy, but in some cases
they merely restructure the
original
story
in
context
of the others. The original
“Star Wars” movies are now
the second act in a trilogy of
trilogies, which for trilogy
aficionados
is
absolutely
amazing.
Despite
the
lack
of
traditional
trilogies
in
modern movie making, almost
anything can be restructured
into a trilogy if you look
at it in the right way. “The
Marvel Cinematic Universe?”
They’ve got three phases. It’s
a trilogy. “Harry Potter”? One
through three are the first
act, four and five the second
and six through eight the
third. It’s a trilogy. College?
Freshman year is prologue,
sophomore year is act one,
junior act two and senior
year act three. It’s a trilogy.
Meals? Breakfast, lunch and
dinner. If you have three
names, you are a trilogy. The
three-act structure is the only
structure, and it is beautiful.
Internalize that and you will
never be disappointed in the
arc of anything ever again.
This shouldn’t be a shock:
People really love trilogies
IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer
B-SIDE: FILM
B-SIDE: STYLE
With each coming year, more people assume he’s
reached his peak and with each year he surpasses the
last