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Before his passing in 2021 at the age of 41, Virgil Abloh was frequently called as the most influential fashion designer of his generation. Not exactly the most proficient—far from it. Even during his tenure at Louis Vuitton, where he broke barriers as the first African American to oversee the house's men's collection in 2018, he favored T-shirt designs over tailoring. But as a pop-culture-obsessed versatile artist who engaged with fashion with a youthful zeal, his high-low take on streetwear worked to make accessible the elite world of fashion to the next generation like him who had historically overlooked, whether he was leaving his mark on Ikea rugs or designer accessories.

Multidisciplinary artist … photograph of Virgil Abloh.

The extent of his legacy on design isn't easily assessed in tangible goods, but Abloh's archive show, the first exhibition devoted entirely to the late fashion designer's vast 20,000-item archive, reveals that he was as much a voracious collector of objects—the so-called codes—as he was a designer of them.

Arranged by Abloh's partners Chloe and Mahfuz Sultan along with his wife, Shannon, this two-storey exhibition uses his belongings to illustrate his journey from the son of African-born family in Illinois to creative, graphic designer, DJ, and eventually one of the biggest designers in the world.

The arrangement evokes a flea market. Stacks of stacked Off-White T-shirts and sneaker partnerships share space with paintbrushes, tailoring tools, and early tech. A pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s have been reversed, while one of his luxury accessories marked with the word “sculpture” (inverted commas were one of his signature touches) rests alone on a stool.

The more interactive exhibits include his office at Louis Vuitton (he famously described his phone as his desk) and a life-sized DJ booth; testament of his wide appeal, growing up in Illinois in the early 2000s, his performance alias back then was Flat White.

The signposting is limited, and while some of the more gnomic inclusions—various USB sticks and mixtapes in glass vitrines—will only be meaningful to his most devoted followers, it is a fascinating glimpse into the creative psyche of a late millennial growing up in a capitalist world before TikTok.

Overwhelming … some of the objects on display at the exhibition.

At times it can feel a lot, but the structured layout is also how Abloh functioned. He would capture his interviews with journalists on recordings which he kept in order to return to and study as his work evolved. The tapes are presumably among the unshown items still in storage which—considering the turnout and lines outside—will almost certainly be displayed in later installations.

Abloh's tenure at Louis Vuitton was widely praised but it was his collaborations with worldwide companies which transcended the allure of his fashion design, handling each item—a Rimowa suitcase, a sneaker, the earlier noted Evian bottles—as if he was sampling a song. This originated from his “3% approach”—the concept that you could create a original piece by changing an original by just 3%.

Opening for just 10 days during Paris fashion week at the Grand Palais—limited availability was a very Ablohian strategy—the organized crowds outside on its opening day indicate it wasn't simply the most sought-after event in town, but that it was absurd to think that Abloh's legacy would simply disappear from the industry's momentum after his death.