Virgil Abloh and Nike Book ICONS “Something’s Off”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a die-hard sneakerhead and live for release dates, or you’re a casual streetwear shopper, Virgil Abloh is a household name. In 2016, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton and CEO of Off-White teamed up with Nike to reimagine 10 iconic pairs of sneakers, and now, fans are able to take a behind-the-scenes look at his design process, brilliant imagination, and so much more in an upcoming book. ICONS “Something’s Off” is a 352-page, nearly five pound book from Nike and Virgil that features “prototypes, original text messages from Abloh to Nike designers, and treasures from the Nike archives.” The book will be available for its initial release on Jan. 22 through SNKRS and for a wider release on Feb. 5 from TASCHEN for $70. The book will also have an initial early release at Black-owned bookstores and independent shops.

In a press release, Virgil praised the book and how beautiful it is to see it all come together like this. “The foundation of my practice isn’t nearly the end result — it’s rigor and process of the logic. The archive is the paper trail of those artifacts,” he said. “The ICONS book is, in a way, the only revealing lens to understand that the catalog of the 50-plus Nike shoes I have designed are in my mind ‘one shoe.’ One story.” He also shared the news on Instagram, writing, “This book is a catalog of images from my process that are largely not on the internet. The beauty about books is exactly that. You can rarely Google image search the full picture of anything.” Check out a sneak peek from inside ICONS “Something’s Off” ahead.