The Grand Palais in Paris will host "Virgil Abloh: The Codes," the first major European exhibition dedicated to the late designer's groundbreaking work, running from September 30 to October 10, 2025. Organized by the Virgil Abloh Archive in partnership with Nike, this comprehensive show will survey nearly two decades of Abloh's influential career by drawing from his extensive 20,000-object personal archive.
The exhibition will showcase how Abloh's creative codes—the recurring principles that guided his innovative approach—seamlessly connected diverse disciplines including fashion, footwear, architecture, music, and advertising. These fundamental design philosophies became the backbone of his multidisciplinary practice, demonstrating his ability to transcend traditional creative boundaries and influence multiple industries simultaneously.
One of the exhibition's most compelling features will be the reactivation of the legendary Paris concept store colette, which served as a central platform for Abloh's early work. Co-founded by Sarah Andelman, the iconic store will be recreated inside the Grand Palais as both a hybrid installation and functioning retail space. Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase limited-edition objects developed in partnership with Abloh, including a special reissue of his collaboration with Braun and a French-language edition of his influential book "Abloh-isms."
Curated by Chloe and Mahfuz Sultan, "Virgil Abloh: The Codes" represents a significant expansion of an earlier exhibition presented in 2022, this time offering a much broader and more comprehensive view of Abloh's creative practice. The show will feature not only his well-known projects but also rare prototypes, original sketches, and personal items from his own collections and library, providing unprecedented insight into his creative process.
The archive initiative reflects Abloh's fundamental belief in openness and collective learning by focusing equally on creative processes and final outcomes. This approach makes Abloh's innovative methods available for study and reuse by future generations of designers and creatives. The project receives support from the Virgil Abloh Foundation and will be accompanied by an extensive series of public programs, including hands-on workshops, panel discussions, live performances, and film screenings.
For Shannon Abloh, the late designer's wife who now leads both the archive and foundation, the exhibition serves a dual purpose as both a celebration of her husband's remarkable legacy and an educational tool. She views the comprehensive show as a crucial way of ensuring that Virgil Abloh's revolutionary ideas and creative philosophies remain accessible and inspiring to future generations of artists, designers, and cultural innovators.
