Shannon Abloh continues designing Virgil’s legacy

The Future. Shannon Abloh, the widow of renowned designer Virgil Abloh, is outlining all the ways she plans on making his memory and work live on for decades. With his hands in brands such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, Off-White, and so many others, Abloh’s creations may still revolutionize fashion and design — thanks to Ms. Abloh’s curation.

Eternal reach
Shannon Abloh breaks down to NYT how she’s picking up Virgil’s mantle.

• She’s bringing all of his creative ventures — including his London-based creative studio Alaska Alaska and a joint venture with Nike called Architecture — under the newly-created Virgil Abloh Securities.
• During this week’s Miami Art Week, she’s introducing a four-day festival developed by VA Securities and Nike that will “celebrate Mr. Abloh’s life and open-source his ideas. She hopes it will become an annual event.”
• The festival, which will take place at the Rubell Museum in Miami, will include discussions, workshops, exhibitions, concerts, and a skateboard competition.

Ms. Abloh, in her role as the president of the Virgil Abloh Foundation, is hosting a summit next spring that will bring together Virgil’s many collaborators to brainstorm ways to increase creative opportunities for the next generation of minority students.

The goal of the summit, and of the foundation at large, is to give 12-to-17-year-olds “the portfolios they need” to follow in Virgil’s footsteps in design, architecture, and many other creative endeavors.

Pass on the making
But Ms. Abloh is also making sure that Virgil’s many creations — those already in the works and those that have been under lock and key — see the light of day.

• The festival will also be the launch of the Nike Air Terra Forma — “the first sneaker Mr. Abloh created from scratch for Nike and its next big release.”
• John Hoke, the chief creative officer at Nike, said there’s “at least a year’s worth” of Off-White x Nike collabs that are “in the pipeline.”
• Ms. Abloh also wants to bring to life the “hundreds of projects that he worked on that he never put out.”

Howard Feller, Virgil’s business advisor who is now in that role for Ms. Abloh, said that “we are on the 50-year plan.” Considering how much is in the works, the influence may go way beyond that.