FULL CIRCLE: Fashion designer Virgil Abloh’s legacy is set to take center stage at ComplexCon Hong Kong later on Saturday and Sunday, where the former Louis Vuitton men’s artistic director’s archive, V.A.A., will stage a special installation.
The showcase will offer an edit of “Virgil Abloh: The Codes,” the first major European exhibition dedicated to the late founder of Off-White and creative polymath, which was unveiled last September in Paris. The exhibit featured 1,000 objects culled from his output, personal collection and unpublished work, including 200 pairs of sneakers.
Bringing some of the late designer’s immersive and process-driven ideas to Asia, the installation at ComplexCon Hong Kong will be organized around three themes.
The Media Lab, designed by Rem Koolhaas, will contain hundreds of gigabytes of his working design files. Then there is the Sneaker Table, framing his Nike collaborations as an object lesson, as well as the Archive Table, a working display of reference materials, personal and never-before-seen objects.
Virgil Abloh Archive
Courtesy of Virgil Abloh Archive
The installation will coincide with the recent launches of The Virgil Reader Vol. 001 and the Air Jordan 1 High OG x V.A.A. At the fair, there will be a gift shop featuring the Air Jordan 1 High OG x V.A.A. and limited-edition merchandise available outside of the U.S. for the first time.
The Hong Kong stop is also part of the broader V.A.A. World’s Fair programming, a traveling series that will visit cities central to Abloh’s trajectory, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London and Tokyo.
Mahfuz Sultan, codirector of Virgil Abloh Archive, said Abloh was at the very first ComplexCon a decade ago, and he loved being in a room where sneakers, fashion, art and music were all part of the same conversation.
“Hong Kong was one of the first cities to embrace what he was doing. It’s where he opened his first store, and so having the archive there, at ComplexCon in that city, it feels full circle. Virgil Abloh Archive is about making Virgil’s work accessible to the people who care about it most, and this is a space where that community comes together,” Sultan added.
Bonnie Chan Woo, chief executive officer of Complex China, said Abloh’s impact on global culture was undeniable and has resonated so much with the next generation of creatives around the world.
“Bringing the Virgil Abloh Archive to ComplexCon Hong Kong gives our audience a rare look at that process. We’re especially proud to be among the first to bring this archive to life in a tangible way for fans here.”
As reported, Kasing Lung, the creator of the global cultural phenomenon Labubu and The Monsters universe it inhabits, was named the artistic director of this year’s ComplexCon Hong Kong. Previous artistic directors of ComplexCon Hong Kong have included Japanese artist Verdy and American artist Daniel Arsham.
Supported by the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund of the Government of Hong Kong SAR, the fair will continue to occupy the 430,556-square-foot AsiaWorld-Expo venue, located next to the Hong Kong International Airport.
