Nike Honors Virgil Abloh's Legacy at Codes, Europe's First Exhibit from the Virgil Abloh Archive™
A monumental celebration of creative genius opens at Paris's Grand Palais, showcasing two decades of revolutionary design
Four years after the sudden passing of Virgil Abloh, his transformative impact on fashion, sneaker culture, and creative expression continues to reverberate through industries he helped redefine. Now, in a fitting tribute to the visionary designer, Nike and the Virgil Abloh Archive™ have partnered to present "Virgil Abloh: The Codes" – Europe's first major exhibition dedicated exclusively to his groundbreaking work, running from September 30 (Abloh's birthday) through October 10, 2025, at Paris's iconic Grand Palais.
An Archive Comes to Life
This monumental showcase explores nearly two decades of Abloh's multidisciplinary output through his extraordinary 20,000-object archive, featuring hundreds of prototypes, sketches, personal collections, and previously unseen collaborations that defined his career. Spanning over 13,000 square feet of gallery space, the exhibition presents close to 1,000 carefully curated objects that reveal the full scope of Abloh's creative genius.
"This exhibit is just the beginning of our work to share Virgil's legacy and principles with the creative community and the broader world," said Shannon Abloh, president and chair of Virgil Abloh Archive™. "Sharing his personal collection, unfinished projects, and magnum opuses with the public is a monumental way we celebrate Virgil's legacy and his commitment to making information accessible and collaborative."
Nike's Central Role in the Story
The partnership between Nike and Abloh stands as one of the most influential collaborations in modern sneaker history. The exhibition spotlights his groundbreaking sneaker collaborations, including his famous "The Ten" collection, which blurred the line between performance and style and continues to define sneaker culture years later.
Among the exhibition's most anticipated elements are never-before-seen Air Force 1 prototypes, including Louis Vuitton AF1s with embossed monograms, butter slides with Y2K finishes, and over-scale Swooshes in metallic. Perhaps most exciting for sneakerheads are the pair of Off-White x Air Jordan 1 "Canary" colorways that were long rumored but never officially released.
The showcase also features the Terra Forma – Abloh's only fully original Nike silhouette, designed without any retro base or borrowed blueprint, representing pure creative vision that looked more like a concept car than a traditional sneaker.
Beyond Footwear: A Multidisciplinary Genius
Curated by Chloe Sultan and Mahfuz Sultan, the exhibition serves as an expanded edition of the 2022 Virgil Abloh: The Codes exhibition, tracing how Abloh's signature design principles – his "codes" – thread through his work in apparel, footwear, architecture, music, advertising, and more, unifying a practice that spans multiple disciplines.
The exhibit includes never-before-seen materials such as Prada x Nike pitch decks, archival clothing, and prototypes for the industry-pausing Louis Vuitton Air Force 1 collaboration. This version delves much deeper into his overall design and work process, featuring intimate details like screenshots of WhatsApp conversations that reveal his creative methodology.
Interactive Cultural Programming
Beyond static displays, the exhibition embraces Abloh's philosophy of collaboration and community engagement. Performances, workshops, dialogues, film screenings, and other programming expand the experience, encouraging conversation around creativity and legacy while honoring a career that transcended traditional categories.
As curator Mahfuz Sultan noted, "This exhibition at Grand Palais is a homecoming of sorts, a love letter to the city that inspired him most and shaped so much of his practice. Virgil Abloh Archive™ carries forward V's spirit of generosity by sharing his work, his methods, his 'codes' with anyone who wants to learn from and build on his ideas."
A Lasting Impact on Design Culture
Each piece in the exhibition demonstrates Abloh's signature deconstructed aesthetic, playful use of text, and emphasis on storytelling, showing how his design language reshaped not just sneakers, but the cultural meaning of athletic wear itself. The presentation captures the essence of a designer who built his career on experimentation, dialogue, and a fearless approach to challenging conventional boundaries.
The timing is particularly poignant – Abloh's birthday has always fallen during Paris Fashion Week, merging celebration with couture in a way that feels entirely aligned with his vision. As the fashion world convenes in the French capital, this exhibition offers a moment of reflection on how one designer's radical thinking continues to influence creative communities worldwide.
Looking Forward
For sneaker enthusiasts, the exhibition may also provide glimpses into the future of Off-White x Nike collaborations, as the partnership has been relatively quiet since 2023, with new projects rumored for Holiday 2025 including a new Off-White x Air Jordan 1 High "Alaska" and potential Air Force 1 Low projects.
More than a retrospective, "Virgil Abloh: The Codes" serves as a testament to the power of creative vision that refuses to be confined by traditional boundaries. In showcasing Abloh's "codes" – the underlying principles that unified his seemingly disparate projects – the exhibition reveals how his approach to design, collaboration, and cultural engagement created a new paradigm for creative practice.
As visitors walk through the Grand Palais galleries, they encounter not just the artifacts of a remarkable career, but the blueprint for a new kind of creative thinking that continues to inspire designers, artists, and cultural innovators worldwide. In Paris, the city that inspired much of his work, Virgil Abloh's legacy lives on – accessible, collaborative, and endlessly generative.
"Virgil Abloh: The Codes" runs through October 10, 2025, at the Grand Palais in Paris. Tickets are available through the venue's official website.
