Louis Vuitton Takes Over NYC With New Nike Launch
Louis Vuitton's collaboration with Nike featuring Air Force 1 sneakers designed by Virgil Abloh launches this week along with a series of art installations.
Nike and Louis Vuitton are launching nine editions of the Nike Air Force 1, which were initially introduced in the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022 collection, designed by Virgil Abloh. An exhibition plus five installations around New York City featuring all 45 editions of the sneaker will open ahead of the wide release.
Editions of the Air Force 1 that will be available in-store range from the classic white low top embossed with the Louis Vuitton monogram and metallic gold iterations to multicolor patchwork as well as a damier edition featuring a graffiti motif created by artist Ghusto Leon. Sizing runs from a a 3.5 to a size 18.
The exhibition, titled Louis Vuitton and Nike “Air Force 1” by Virgil Abloh, opens at the Terminal Warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn beginning May 20th through the 31st. The exhibition details the creative conversations between Nike and Abloh shortly prior to his passing, and displays the final products of the collaboration in a vivid, surreal space.
Five other instillations—glass boxes displaying graphic globe sculptures—are also set up across New York City. Built on a foundation of emotional connection to the late Abloh, the spaces explore his impact on the industry, and the ability he had to use fashion as a tool to question materialistic mentalities and human worth, unifying people from all sorts of backgrounds.
Abloh chose the Air Force 1 for a reason. With a history rooted in Hip Hop—including a version adorned with the Louis Vuitton monogram by Harlem designer Dapper Dan worn on the cover of DJ E-Z Rock's 1988 album It Takes Two—the sneaker acts as a sample from which to build upon. "We’re all iterating on the same ideas. But, in my canon, the ”Air Force 1” puts the edge on the blade," Abloh said.
