Virgil Abloh is what many young millennials look up to as their modern-day renaissance-man. He’s best known as the mastermind and founder of luxury streetwear brand, Off-White, the creative director behind the Kanye West’s controversial and trend-setting image.

Before his ascension to influence and power in the fashion industry, many don’t know that he earned his bachelors degree in engineering, and then went on to study architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In interviews and talks given he’s talked about his background in architecture and how modernist architecture has influenced much of his work, the way he designs and constructs his work, and his overall aesthetic. In some of his campaigns he’s placed models wearing his clothing staged inside iconic landmarks and structures. Abloh is known to have blurred the lines between high-fashion and streetwear, and in turn has disrupted the fashion industry–creating a new generation of youth culture.