Nike is honoring Virgil Abloh with “Codes” exhibition in Miami

Prudence Cuming

Nike has announced that this coming December the brand will be honoring Virgil Abloh’s legacy. Nike has partnered with Virgil Abloh securities, a creative corporation that will host a four-day exhibition honoring the late designer. “Virgil Abloh codes c/o Architecture” will be held in Miami’s Rubell Museum during the Miami Art Week that will take place between Dec 1st and Dec 4th. This exhibition will highlight Virgil's long term partnership with Nike as well as his “Codes”, across all mediums of his work, and design methodologies. Virgil thrived working alongside Nike because he understood the brands position within the fashion market along with the brands business culture, while Nike understood the importance of truly supporting creatives and their visions. The exhibition that will be four days long which will not only highlight the work of the designer, but aim to honor both brands legacy together with Virgil’s open-source methods, as well as commitment to collaborating to inspire many other creatives. 

Courtesy of Nike

Virgil Abloh and Nike first collaborated in 2017 when they announced a new design project, “The ten”. A shoe that Virgil and Nike collaborated on which they explored 10 Nike footwear silhouettes from Off-White founder Virgil Abloh. The collection was divided into ten pairs of shoes which each were divided into two themes. The first theme was known to be the “REVEALING”, which aimed to be accessible through its design being hand-cut, open source, and reconstructed. This collection included sneakers such as the Air Jordan I, the Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Presto, Nike Air VaporMax, and the Nike Blazer Mid.

Courtesy of Nike

Their second theme focused on, “ GHOSTING”, which was designed with translucent uppers which was made to further the idea of revealing and uniting the second set of silhouettes through the use of common materials. This theme included sneakers such as the Converse Chuck Taylor, Nike Zoom Fly SP, Nike Air Force 1 Low, Nike React Hyperdunk 2017 and Nike Air Max 97. He is known for reconstructing 10 Nike footwear icons being a dream come true, as Virgil always dreamt of collaborating with Nike. 

During his early designing days, Virgil who at the time lived in Rockford, Illinois he and his friends sketched shoe ideas and used to mail them to Nike. His vision as a designer was enamored with Air Jordans, inspired by Michael Jordan his entire design background and ethos came from the 90s. Merging his formal training in architecture and engineering laid the foundation of his success as a creative director, DJ, designer and founder of the brand, Off-White.  He blurred the lines of various creative processes, which he rewrote the rules of fashion and designed which injected many humorous and DIY elements into his work.

Heison Ho

Virgil was then awarded the Shoe of the Year for the Air Jordan 1 in his “ The Ten” collection at the 2017 Footwear News Achievement Awards in 2017. During his speech Virgil expressed his gratitude towards the brand for their ambitious and driven mindset that helped him accomplish new things, as an “intern” in their space. During this collaboration Nike gave him creative leeway to accomplish what he wanted for their collaborated collection. Along with that, the exhibition will set the stage for future collaborations and storytelling from architecture the platform Virgil co-created with Nike, helmed  by Mahfuz and Chloe Sultan. Nike will also introduce the Off-White x Nike Terra Forma which is both brands first original sneaker designed by Virgil and designers in 2022. The collaborated shoe will be released in December as part of a lineup of Virgil-designed apparel and footwear collections. The Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 by Virgil Abloh also received the shoe of the year award at the FNAAs on November 30th.