It’s no secret that New Yorkers love their Cheap Fake AF1 × Louis Vuitton Gold. Against all odds, they manage to keep their pairs pristine — until they don’t, at which point they just add another to their collection. If you are one of the lucky few to get your hands on a pair of Virgil Abloh’s “Air Force 1’s,” though, which he designed as part of his spring 2022 collection for Louis Vuitton, where he served as the men’s artistic director up until his death in November, you may not want to wear them outside the house. Only 47 individual styles were made (in Italy, of course, at Vuitton’s factory), with just nine being sold to VIP clients. They range in price from $2,750 for low-tops to $3,450 for mid-tops. (An average AF1 pair costs $100.) But as one of Abloh’s final projects, they are priceless.
If you didn’t manage to get a pair, there is still time to see all 47 at an exhibition in Brooklyn, where they’re being displayed gallery style through May 31. The space is open to the public, and visitors can take a closer look at a shiny gold pair; a furry pair; one showcasing the flag of Ghana, where Abloh’s parents were born; and another tagged with the Vuitton logo by graffiti artist Ghusto Leon, among others. Each shoe is accompanied by a screen displaying its smaller holographic counterpart.