Before his untimely death in 2021 at the age of 41, Virgil Abloh was often called as the most influential fashion designer of his generation. Not exactly the most skilled—nowhere near. Even during his tenure at Louis Vuitton, where he broke barriers as the first Black man to lead the house's men's collection in 2018, he preferred graphic tees over tailoring. But as a pop-culture-obsessed multitalented creator who engaged with fashion with a fresh energy, his high-low approach to streetwear sought to open up the exclusive world of fashion to young people like him who had historically shut out, whether he was leaving his mark on Evian bottles or luxury goods.
Pop-culture polymath … photograph of Virgil Abloh.
The extent of his influence on design isn't easily assessed in tangible goods, but Virgil Abloh: The Codes, the first exhibition focused exclusively to the late fashion designer's extensive 20,000-item archive, reveals that he was as much a insatiable accumulator of artifacts—the eponymous codes—as he was a designer of them.
Organized by Abloh's collaborators Chloe and Mahfuz Sultan along with his widow, Shannon, this two-level exhibition uses his belongings to illustrate his path from the offspring of Ghanaian immigrants in Illinois to designer, visual artist, DJ, and ultimately one of the biggest designers in the world.
The layout evokes a garage sale. Large piles of neatly arranged Off-White T-shirts and athletic shoe designs share space with design implements, tailoring tools, and early tech. A pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s have been turned inside out, while one of his designer bags emblazoned with the word “sculpture” (quotation marks were one of his trademark elements) rests alone on a stand.
The more immersive installations include his office at Louis Vuitton (he well-knownly referred to his phone as his desk) and a full-size DJ booth; evidence of his wide appeal, maturing in Illinois in the 2000s, his DJ name back then was Flat White.
The guidance is sparse, and while some of the more enigmatic additions—multiple USB sticks and mixtapes in showcases—will only make sense to his loyal audience, it is a compelling glimpse into the thought process of a Gen Y individual growing up in a capitalist world before TikTok.
A lot to take in … a selection of objects on display at this retrospective.
At times it can feel overwhelming, but the structured layout is also how Abloh operated. He would document his conversations with journalists on recordings which he kept in order to return to and pore over as his work progressed. The tapes are probably among the unshown items still in holding which—judging by the reception and queues outside—will probably be displayed in future exhibitions.
Abloh's stint at Louis Vuitton was very successful but it was his partnerships with international labels which went beyond the allure of his tailoring, approaching each piece—a Rimowa suitcase, a Nike trainer, the aforementioned Evian bottles—as if he was referencing a track. This stemmed from his “3% rule”—the philosophy that you could produce a fresh concept by changing an existing by just 3%.
Launching for just 10 days during PFW at the prestigious venue—scarcity hype was a classic Virgil strategy—the timed queues outside on its first day indicate it wasn't simply the most sought-after event in town, but that it was ludicrous to think that Abloh's impact would simply vanish from fashion's slipstream after his death.
