By Wanique Block

Design savant and Nike Alumni Nur Abbas joins Yeezy as the new Head of Design.

Appointed by Kanye West, Nur Abbas’ new role is primarily focused on expanding the Yeezy brand and overseeing all creative decisions. The highly decorated designer will be reporting directly to Kanye West and is tasked with handling all notable projects such as Yeezy Gap, Yeezy adidas and Yeezy Stem player.

“Abbas will work to further expand on the Yeezy empire, working directly with Ye to direct and launch special projects for the Yeezy brand”, Yeezy said in a statement.

With experience from Maison Margiela, Gucci, Uniqlo and Nike, it’s no surprise that Kanye has appointed Abbas as his new Head of Design for Yeezy. Nur Abbas’ impeccable resume negates uncertainty about the future of Yeezy, especially since the appointment of Nigerian-British designer Mowalola as the director of design, who has seemingly departed from this role, not to mention Kanye’s recent display of threats and temper tantrums on social media.

The accomplished designer’s success was not overnight. Nur Abbas started his career in fashion as a student at Kingston University in London. After completing his BA fashion degree in 2002, Nur Abbas worked as an Assistant Designer for Maison Margiela. During his time at Maison Margiela, Nur Abbas started freelancing for the Griffin Studio, where he consulted, illustrated and designed for various other brands.

In 2004 the designer joined the world-renowned luxury brand Gucci as one of the lead designers. Soon after, Abbas joined the world’s second-oldest luxury fashion house, Louis Vuitton, where he spent nine years as a senior menswear designer.

Following his role at Louis Vuitton, Nur Abbas joined Uniqlo, for one year, as the Head of Design for menswear. Abbas then moved to sportswear and athleisure brand Nike in 2016, where he worked as the lead designer for Nikelab Apparel and design director for Nike ACG.

After five years at rival company Nike, Nur Abbas now joins Yeezy, intending to reinforce Kanye’s ethos on design and culture.

“I’m energized to work with Ye because he cares so deeply about design and moving the culture forward”, Abbas told WWD.

During this conversation with WWD, Nur Abbas also expressed excitement about working with his new talented colleagues at Yeezy and Gap to create and share new ideas and visions of fashion with the world.

“At YEEZY and GAP, I’ve met some of the most talented people and teams, and I’m looking forward to working with them all to extend this new creative vision to the world.”

Known for his attention to detail, craftsmanship, creativity and play on imagery, it is clear that Nur Abbas fits perfectly at the helms of Yeezy.

Abbas’ background in fashion and design transcends all boundaries and styles of fashion. His familiarity with streetwear, luxury fashion, mainstream fashion and the art of collaboration echoes and validates his appointment at Yeezy.

It is no secret that Abbas’ background in fashion speaks for itself; however, many people have questioned the overall intention of this appointment. Many assume that his appointment as the new Head of Design is to “stabilise”, “restore”, and “add structure” as an emergency solution to the Yeezy brand, especially after Kanye’s erratic behaviour on social media. In other instances, Nur Abbas’ appointment is perceived as an effort for the Yeezy brand to disassociate itself from the controversial founder.

Whatever the reason may be, it does not change the fact that Nur Abbas is one of our generation’s most talented designers. That being said, we cannot wait to see how Nur Abbas uses his craft as a designer to navigate and expand on his new role at the Yeezy empire.

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