Virgil Abloh: The Codes review archive show sews up status as his generation's leading designer

"Even at Louis Vuitton, where he became the first Black man to oversee the label's menswear in 2018, he preferred to print on T-shirts rather than tailor them. But as a pop-culture-obsessed polymath who approached fashion with a teenager's enthusiasm, his high-low take on streetwear sought to open up the rarefied world of fashion to kids like him who had historically been shut out of it, whether he was putting his stamp on Evian bottles, Ikea rugs, or 8,000 bags."

"The scale of his impact on design can't be measured in stuff, but Virgil Abloh: The Codes, the first exhibition devoted purely to the late fashion designer's whopping 20,000-item archive, demonstrates that he was as much a voracious collector of things the titular codes as he was a maker of it. Curated by Abloh's collaborators Chloe and Mahfuz Sultan along with his widow, Shannon, this two storey exhibition uses his belongings to show his journey from the son of Ghanaian immigrants in Illinois to architect, graphic designer, DJ, and finally one of the biggest designers in the world."

"The layout is like a garage sale. Huge piles of folded Off-White T-shirts and Nike trainer collaborations sit alongside paintbrushes, scissors, and teenage laptops. A pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s have been turned inside out, while one of his leather handbags emblazoned with the word sculpture (quotation marks were one of his design hallmarks) sits alone on a stool."

Virgil Abloh combined streetwear sensibilities, pop-culture references, and collecting to expand access within the fashion world. He rose from the son of Ghanaian immigrants in Illinois to roles as architect, graphic designer, DJ, and major fashion designer, including becoming the first Black man to oversee Louis Vuitton menswear. The Codes exhibition presents his 20,000-item archive and foregrounds both his making and his collecting. Exhibits recreate personal workspaces and immersive elements, and display mass-produced garments, collaborations, tools, and emblematic objects such as quotation-marked items, demonstrating a high-low aesthetic and broad cultural reach.

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