Page 61 - SHARP September 2022

STYLE
BOUNDARY-BREAKING ARTIST AND DESIGNER VIRGIL ABLOH’S
greatest talent was the democratization of everything he touched. To him, there was no higher accomplishment than bringing outsiders in by taking what was considered off-limits and making it accessible to everyone. He once compared the experience of a luxury boutique to that of a museum — just the feeling you got entering the Louis Vuitton × Nike “Air Force 1” exhibition held in Brooklyn, New York, earlier this year.
The Nike Air Force 1 is a sneaker with deep cultural significance. Originally designed in 1982 as a revolutionary new form of basketball footwear, it was unlike any sneaker that had come before. Once known as the “Uptown” due to its prominence in Harlem in the mid-’90s, it was ubiquitous in the early hip hop scene, with everyone from Riccardo Tisci to Comme des Garçons to Supreme has had their own collaborations. Its 40-year journey has had a huge cultural impact, so it’s no surprise Abloh chose to immortalize the AF1 as
the highest pinnacle of luxury imaginable with this collaboration. For the first time in its storied history, under the guidance of Abloh, the Air Force 1 was meticulously crafted outside of a Nike factory, at Louis Vuitton’s atelier Fiesso d’Artico, near Venice, Italy. No insignificant feat in a world as heavily guard-railed as luxury fashion, Abloh took the sneaker from the streets to the runway and back again, a move that canonizes him as the hero he was to so many. When Abloh’s ultimate AF1s were unveiled at the exhibition in Brooklyn this past May, the energy surrounding the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse was tangible. Eager fans dressed in Abloh- designed pieces happily queued for hours. Attendees had donned their finest pieces, from sneakers to ready-to-wear, to walk among the coveted collection, a sign of great respect for the late designer. Spread throughout the warehouse, 47 AF1s were affixed to amusing monogrammed mirrors, which were wrapped around walls like footprints at eye level to enable visitors to see them in great
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