Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS

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Abloh rejects the idea of the name ‘streetwear.’ This isn’t because he doesn’t believe in it, or that he doesn’t believe there’s space for it. It’s because he doesn’t like that this name is a sort of reduction. He believes that you can’t reduce streetwear to a deduction. “It’s not one or the other,” Abloh explained. “It’s both. A purist knows everything—they can tell you any sneaker facts. But then you have the tourists who are like ‘show me the AF1,’ and both of them are valid. That space that they both occupy, makes the culture.” When is the “ICONS” book release?

In 2016, sportswear manufacturer Nike and fashion designer Virgil Abloh joined forces to create a sneaker collection celebrating 10 of the Oregon-based company's most iconic shoes. With their project The Ten-which reimagined icons like Air Jordan 1, Air Max 90, Air Force 1, and Air Presto, among others-they reinvigorated sneaker culture. How do you apply Afrocentrism to fashion photography? Can it be seen as the primary vehicle for promoting messages of inclusivity and cultural appreciation? Then sadly Virgil unimpededly passed away. It was such a weird, strange and sad coincidence. There’s no doubt that over the 10+ years or so I have been doing this fashion blog that he’s ha da huge legacy over the fashion industry. The book documents Abloh’s cooperative way of working and reaffirms the power of print. For its design Nike and Abloh partnered with the acclaimed London-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 a visual culture of sneakers while a lexicon in the second part defines the key people, places, objects, ideas, materials, and scenes from which the project grew. Texts by Nike’s Nicholas Schonberger, writer Troy Patterson, curator and historian Glenn Adamson, and Virgil Abloh himself frame the collaborative work within fashion and design history. A foreword by Hiroshi Fujiwara places the project within the historical continuum of Nike collaborators.

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Icons traces Abloh’s investigative, creative process through documentation of the prototypes, original text messages from Abloh to Nike designers, and treasures 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 a look behind the scenes and witness Abloh’s DIY approach, which gives each model in the Off-WhiteTM c/o Nike collection its own unique touch. Carlo Bevilacqua, a photographer renowned for his socio-anthropological research, presents a selection of shots taken from his projects over the past five years in various parts of the world. These projects have materialized into two wonderful photographic books: “Utopia, dreaming the impossible” and “Into the silence, Eremiti del terzo millennio.” Bevilacqua’s work explores contemporary utopian communities worldwide, focusing on alternative, spiritual, artistic, hippie, and environmental communities. He seeks to define the meaning of “utopia” in the present era and documents how these communities have dealt with the pressure of dominant culture. Another significant theme in his work is the narration of Queer communities, particularly relevant in India, Mexico, and among Native North Americans. Keila Guilarte, Domino La Habana A Journey Between Morocco and Cuba by Keila Guilarte

Adamson explains how medieval society was structured by religious foundations. He then mentions how in today’s society, we are far more secular than before, and we need something to fill that space. “It’s powerful human stuff, what it was for people thousands of years ago who built their faith in god,” Adamson continues. “And when a lot of us don’t have that, what do we put? We put speakers as an icon. It has to do with finding your way as a human in the world.” This type of thinking is ahead of its time as one can always produce different types of shoes, with one product only barely differing from its predecessor. But to completely reinvent a concept or an idea is what makes bigger, much more noticeable waves. Something that hasn’t really been done before is bound to capture people’s attention. Sneakers—High Society? Bringing together all the greats—from Air Jordan 1 to Air Presto—Nike and Virgil Abloh reinvent sneaker culturewith the collaborative project The Ten and redesign 10 sneaker icons. Experience engineering ingenuity and Abloh’s investigative design process: each shoe is a piece of industrial design, a readymade sculpture, and a wearable all at once. Keila Guilarte‘s photographs come from a visual reportage conducted between Cuba and Morocco from 2017 to today. Guilarte, who has always explored issues of identity and social belonging, presents artistic images capturing the daily life and beauty of people and places in Maghreb communities. Strong and contrasting lights, colors, and shadows take center stage in these shots, narrating the identity of a people. Simultaneously, there are images depicting Cuban life, connected to the photographer’s photographic memory and childhood. The exhibited photographs, part of her first book “Mi Tierra,” discreetly lead the viewer into the daily intimacy of the Cuban community and the inexhaustible energy of its people, who maintain their identity despite profound and painful cultural changes. Gianluigi Di Napoli, Cirque Du Soleil The Circus World Through Gianluigi Di Napoli’s Eyes

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A part of the biggest gesture of that whole story cycle is this: don’t judge a book by its cover,” says Abloh. On discussing how the Nike swoosh on the book cover is ‘different’ from how most people recognize it, Abloh dives into why that is. “The book is called ‘ICONS’ but what’s on the cover is, to me, a gesture in itself that ‘something is off.’ The swoosh itself looks like something is off but it’s like this off-kilterness. There’s a lot of nuance in something as simple as the title and cover, and that to me, enters the world as an output. It has to have those layers to it.” Design in the Digital Space

In the event of a potential manufacturing fault we reserve the right to return the item to the manufacturer for further assessment.From his most famous label Off White to his collabs with Nike, and working with some of the biggest luxury fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, he had a big influence over both street wear and high end fashion. Within ICONS, readers will find Swooshes sliced away from Air Jordans and reapplied with tape or thread, Abloh’s quotation marks trialed on Nike Air Force 1sand Converse All Stars cut into pieces. The effect is abehind-the-scenes witness to The Ten’s DIY approach, which gives each model in the Off-White™c/o Nike collection its own unique touch. "The foundation of my practice isn’t nearly the end result — it’s rigor and process of the logic. The archive is the paper trail of those artifacts," says Abloh."The ICONS book is, in a way, the only revealing lens to understand that the catalog of the 50-plus Nike shoes I have designed are in my mind 'one shoe.'One story." When Nike initially teamed up with Virgil Abloh to release “The Ten”, they took the world by storm. Capturing the minds of fans everywhere, they have since become one of the most prominent collaborative powerhouses in fashion history. From shoes & clothes, to art & music, Nike & Virgil team up to now bring us ICONS “Something’s Off”. It is interesting to me for a few reasons. The first is all of the trainers! It’s so cool to see all of them. The second is the design of the ads and the marketing. I love looking at things like this, it gives me ideas and inspiration for doing my own things with the blog and other design projects. A few weeks ago I was out and happened to find these two books: Something’s Off by Virgil Abloh and Soled Out by Sneaker Freaker.

Federico Hurth’s photographs are devoid of any post-production manipulation, « if a photo has a flaw, I keep it that way. Precisely to maximize the authenticity of the moment,» the photographer tells us. Wasted Youth offers a glimpse into fragments of youthful lives lived intensely but, at the same time, in a way that may seem “wasted,” in line with the title of his project. The aesthetic, which oscillates between the glitter of glamour and the darkness of decay, reflects the complexity and uncertainty that the contemporary context offers to young people, who are at the mercy of looming precariousness. Jarvis asks why the book was made in physical form and not just a zine or other online platform. This is when Kyes responds, “also why now, because 2020 is the year our lives moved completely online? For those that think of the death of the book, 2020 should really be the nail on that coffin. But not everything is online, and the physical objects still have power, and books are just that, I think.” By approaching each practice in a holistic way and considering them as one, it’s easier to navigate. I don’t think of them as separate components but rather focus on the end goal. I had seen both books online but when I was out I wasn’t shopping for them, and came across them both by chance. I was thinking about getting them for a few weeks, and decided that I’d go out and get them. Striving to present something different, Abloh dives into his thought process. “I have to suggest something that’s not been done before,” Abloh reveals. “I was thinking wider scope, so I offered a treatment that could be applied to 10 shoes. I’m not designing the shoe, I’m designing the logic.”Underpinned by The Ten, ICONSexplores how the partnership works to unifyall the intangible cultural threads connected to sneakers. The book traces Abloh’s investigative, creative process through documentation of prototypes, original text messages from Abloh to Nike designersand treasures from the Nike archives. ICONS, published by TASCHEN, is a dynamic retrospective of the extensive collaborative project between NIKE, Inc. and Virgil Abloh. Designs are most definitely becoming increasingly digital. Whether that’s thanks to COVID, or the art of archiving one’s work, it’s pretty much essential to every artist. With mass technology consuming our world, it can be especially challenging for artists. Putting their work out there is one thing, but for it to stand out amongst all the other noise is truly a challenge.