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Prior to his passing in 2021 at the age of 41, Virgil Abloh was regularly referred to as the most influential fashion designer of his generation. Not exactly the most proficient—not by a long shot. Even during his tenure at Louis Vuitton, where he broke barriers as the pioneering Black designer to lead the label's menswear in 2018, he leaned toward printing on T-shirts over custom cuts. But as a mainstream-savvy versatile artist who engaged with fashion with a teenager's enthusiasm, his democratic approach to streetwear sought to open up the elite world of fashion to young people like him who had traditionally shut out, whether he was imprinting his vision on Evian bottles or designer accessories.

Cultural visionary … photograph of Virgil Abloh.

The extent of his impact on design isn't easily assessed in physical items, but Abloh's archive show, the inaugural showcase devoted entirely to the late fashion designer's vast 20,000-item archive, shows that he was as much a voracious collector of objects—the so-called codes—as he was a maker of them.

Curated by Abloh's associates Chloe and Mahfuz Sultan along with his widow, Shannon, this dual-floor exhibition uses his personal effects to illustrate his evolution from the offspring of African-born family in Illinois to architect, graphic designer, DJ, and ultimately one of the most prominent designers in the world.

The setup resembles a thrift store. Large piles of folded Off-White T-shirts and Nike trainer collaborations are displayed next to art tools, cutting instruments, and teenage laptops. A pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s have been turned inside out, while one of his leather handbags marked with the word “sculpture” (quotation marks were one of his trademark elements) rests solitarily on a stool.

The more immersive displays include his office at Louis Vuitton (he well-knownly called his phone as his desk) and a life-sized DJ booth; evidence of his broad influence, coming of age in Illinois in the millennial era, his performance alias back then was Flat White.

The signposting is limited, and while some of the more cryptic additions—multiple USB sticks and music compilations in glass vitrines—will only make sense to his most devoted followers, it is a fascinating look into the mind of a late millennial evolving in a consumer society before TikTok.

A lot to take in … a selection of objects on display at this retrospective.

At times it can feel a lot, but the codified layout is also how Abloh operated. He would document his conversations with journalists on tapes which he preserved in order to re-examine and analyze as his work progressed. The tapes are presumably among the remaining objects still in reserve which—judging by the reception and crowds outside—will likely be exhibited in later installations.

Abloh's period at Louis Vuitton was very successful but it was his joint projects with international labels which transcended the attraction of his tailoring, approaching each piece—a luxury luggage, a athletic shoe, the earlier noted Evian bottles—as if he was sampling a piece of music. This stemmed from his “3% approach”—the idea that you could develop a original piece by changing an existing by just 3%.

Launching for just 10 days during the Parisian fashion scene at the iconic location—exclusive access was a classic Virgil strategy—the organized crowds outside on its first day indicate it wasn't simply the hottest ticket in town, but that it was unthinkable to think that Abloh's legacy would simply disappear from the design world after his death.