A Guide to Everything Virgil Abloh and His Summer Takeover of Chicago
A special exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art titled “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech.” A glorious, bright-orange Louis Vuitton menswear pop-up in the heart of Chicago. A Virgil Abloh store: Church & State. A Nike Lab recreation center and artistic hub. A Chicago-exclusive, limited edition collection.
It is safe to say that Virgil Abloh, the 38-year-old artistic director at Louis Vuitton and designer of his Milan-based luxury-streetwear brand Off-White, is taking over Chicago this summer. In the best possible way.
“Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech” Exhibit at the MCA
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago
When: June 10 – Sept. 22, 2019
How much: $15; timed-exhibition ticket required. Purchase tickets here.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is set to showcase the designer in his first museum exhibition anywhere. It opens on Monday, June 10 and runs through Monday Sept. 22, then travels to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and Brooklyn Museum in New York. The exhibit is divided into seven sections and illustrates how Abloh’s creative pursuits disrupt the norms of fashion design and art. It occupies the fourth-floor galleries of the MCA and also includes his work with Moncler, Nike and Ikea.
Virgil Abloh Store: Church & State
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago
When: June 10 – Sept. 22, 2019
How much: $15; timed-exhibition ticket required. Purchase tickets here.
Part of his residency at the MCA is the Virgil Abloh Store: Church & State, an 1,850-square-foot pop-up store filling two fourth-floor galleries with walls covered in photographs by renowned fashion photographer Juergen Teller. It offers merchandise related to the exhibit. Abloh also designed a special shoe for his collab with the MCA: limited-edition Nike Air Force 1 ’07 Virgil Abloh x MCA — known as “Flooded Blue” — however, it will NOT be available at the store but rather via multiple surprise drops via the Frenzy app and for only $159. There will also be surprise T-shirt drops, $65, on the app that will be limited to as many as can be ordered in a 24-hour period, then end. The first drop already sold nearly 10,000 shirts.
Louis Vuitton Pop-Up
Where: 1100 West Randolph
When: June 8 – July 9, 2019
M – Sa: 11am – 7pm | Su: 12pm – 6pm
How much: It is free and walk-ins are welcome but a priority pass is recommended.
Louis Vuitton unveiled the Virgil Abloh’s second men’s collection at a special pop-up in the West Loop. Against an immersive and conceptual orange-hued backdrop, the collection on display includes a limited-edition range of ready-to-wear and accessories that is available exclusively in Chicago. These unique pieces, all in orange, disrupt the store’s monochromatic palette, bringing a jolt of urban energy to the overall collection.The pop-up also feature key pieces from Louis Vuitton’s fall collection, including a rainbow-hued logo carry-on, a leather baseball cap, sunglasses, a chain belt, a soft trunk and a soft trunk backpack. The pop-up coincides with Abloh’s retrospective at the MCA, and it is a must-visit.
See the entire Chicago-exclusive collection here.
NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center c/o Virgil Abloh
Where: 673 North Michigan Avenue
When: May 31 – July 28, 2019
M – Sa: 10am – 7pm | Su: 11am – 6pm
How much: Free
The high-concept boutique has collaborated with Abloh before, but this time around the partnership is also committed to empowering youth by engaging in the physical and cultural energy of Chicago to make the city, and the world, better through sport. The Re-Creation Center, designed by Abloh, is meant to spark creativity through public workshops, giveback programs, exclusive product, and local influential forces. All public workshops are hosted on Saturdays with some of Chicago’s most notable creatives in the fields of graphic design, architecture, photography and visual art. See the schedule on nike.com, and reserve your space on the Nike Snkrs app.
The space is also part of Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe initiative, which recycles old sneakers and gives them a new life through Nike Grind. Nike Grind will also be leveraged to build a Virgil designed basketball court for the community in Chicago in advance of NBA All-Star 2020.
The Nike Lab will also allow you to pick up the earlier-mentioned, limited edition “Flooded Blue” shoe. You still have to purchase it through surprise drops on the Nike Snkrs app but it can be picked up at the lab. The concept also offers a wide variety of Abloh-designed merchandise, like T-shirts, hoodies, tanks, sweatshirts, and more.
Talk about a Chicago takeover. Welcome back home, Virgil!
