For the past few months, fashion has struggled to moor itself against the expansive loss of Thierry Mugler, André Leon Talley, and Virgil Abloh. Individuals who revolutionised the industry with their furious creative output and refusal to abide by its constraints. Abloh, who died of a rare form of heart cancer on November 28, was celebrated by Louis Vuitton across two posthumous collections in Miami and Paris, while Off-White stores were transformed into blooming, botanical gardens.
Now, a longer-term memorial comes from The Brooklyn Museum, which has announced an exhibition in honour of Abloh’s life set to launch this summer. “This is the first museum survey exhibition devoted to late artist and designer Virgil Abloh, whose work reshaped notions of contemporary fashion, art, commerce, design, and youth culture,” said the museum in the announcement of its 2022 exhibition schedule.
Titled Virgil Abloh: ‘Figures of Speech’, the show has been curated as a redux of Abloh’s first solo exhibition, which took place at the MCA Chicago in 2019. Organised by Michael Darling and Antwaun Sargent, Figures of Speech will showcase a range of the artist and designer’s work across art, design and fashion, from Pyrex, to Off-White, to Louis Vuitton. Straddling two decades of creative work, the museum will play host to clothing, large-scale sculpture, immersive installations, film, and archival sketches – among them Abloh’s career-defining collaborations.
“Virgil’s dedication to his artistry provided new opportunities and equitable pathways in art and design. He will be remembered and celebrated through his legacy. Our heartfelt condolences are with his family,” the museum captioned a commemorative post on Instagram last year. While further details have yet to be released, explore Abloh’s most definitive designs here and relive the designer’s final Louis Vuitton show here.