In 2016, sportswear manufacturerNikeand fashion designerVirgil Abloh joined forcesto create a sneaker collectioncelebrating 10 of the Oregon-based company’s most iconic shoes. With their project The Ten—which reimagines icons likeAir Jordan 1,Air Max 90,Air Force 1, andAir Presto, among others—theyreinvigorated sneaker culture.
Virgil Abloh’s new designs offerdeep insights into engineering ingenuityand burst with cultural cachet. Drawing on the genius of the original shoe using lettering, ironic labels, collage, and sculpting techniques, Abloh plays with language and sculptural elements to construct new meaning. Inspired by the wit of Dadaism, architectural theory, and avant-garde happenings, he analyzes what makes each shoe iconic and deconstructs it into anartistic assemblage, makingeach shoe into a piece of industrial design, a readymade sculpture, and a wearable all at once.
Iconstraces Abloh’s investigative, creative process through documentation of theprototypes,original text messagesfrom Abloh to Nike designers, andtreasures from the Nike archives. We find Swooshes sliced away from Air Jordans and reapplied with tape or thread, Abloh’s typical text fragments in quotation marks on Air Force 1, and All Stars cut into pieces. We take alook behind the scenesand witness Abloh’s DIY approach, which gives each model in theOff-WhiteTMc/o Nike collectionits own unique touch.
The book documents Abloh’s cooperative way of working and reaffirms the power of print. For its design Nike and Abloh partnered with the acclaimedLondon-based design studio Zak Group. Together they conceived a two-part compendium, equal parts catalog and conceptual toolbox. The first part of the book presents avisual culture of sneakerswhile a lexicon in the second part defines thekey people, places, objects, ideas, materials, and scenes from which the project grew. Texts by Nike’sNicholas Schonberger, writerTroy Patterson, curator and historianGlenn Adamson, andVirgil Ablohhimself frame the collaborative work within fashion and design history. A foreword byHiroshi Fujiwaraplaces the project within the historical continuum of Nike collaborators.
