Louis Vuitton is set to release a special range of the Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 that Virgil Abloh designed. The retail collection is a range of sneakers that will serve as part of a wider release of the two-hundred pairs auctioned by Sotheby’s.
The collection will be made up of twenty-one colourways, of which 9 will be released next month, while the rest of the collection (yes, the other 12) will be unveiled and released later.
Nine editions of the sneaker, initially presented as part of the Spring/Summer 2022 Men’s collection, will be released globally via an inclusive digital activation in June. Members of Louis Vuitton’s community will receive early access to the shoes.
The eye-catching sneakers will feature a host of diverse colourways and different fabrics as well. Abloh’s reinterpretation of the famed Nike streetwear staple will feature a collegiate blue pair that blends Abloh’s staple quotation marks on the midsole with “Air,” and “Lacet” on the laces. The sneakers will also feature the Louis Vuitton monogram and neon green tab under the swoosh, as seen on Abloh’s other reinterpretations of Nike wear.
Flashier versions of the sneaker include a full metallic gold pair embossed with the monogram and then finished off with a brown midsole and tab with a black so. Even a patchwork version sees a silver metallic upper that blends a multi-hued suede and a stitched Swoosh. In the mid-range, fans can look forward to Louis Vuitton’s Damier leather which features iconic print and graffiti graphics. There are also “Triple-White” and “Triple-Black” versions.
“A cultural symbol in its own right, today the Nike Air Force 1 serves as an object d’art emblematic of self-generated subcultural provenance,” Vuitton said in its show notes, “For Spring-Summer 2022, Virgil Abloh collaborates with Nike on bespoke Air Force 1s, fusing the trainer’s classic codes with the insignia and materials of Louis Vuitton in homage to the hip-hop culture that shaped him.”
The Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1s will also be exhibited to the public at an exhibition held in New York City. The exhibition will run from 20-31 of May and feature fourty-seven editions of Virgil’s Air Force 1. The event will also coincide with corresponding installations across the city.
To distinguish his Louis Vuitton Air Force 1’s, the designer employed the same materials he used for Louis Vuitton’s men’s SS22 collection. Abloh had previously reworked Nike Dunks in fifty different pairs.
