An Exhibit on NIGO’s Vintage Archives Is Set To Go On Display This Year

Everyone knows NIGO. I Know NIGO. You know NIGO. He’s a famous clothing designer, that’ll happen. But did you know he’s also a die-hard vintage clothing archivist?

I like to think it’s fairly common knowledge among those who know NIGO that the Human Made founder is a big fan of old clothes. His obsession for fastidiously reproducing retro garments spills out into his own brand, into NIGO’s Levi’s collabs into KENZO, into the Louis Vuitton collection that NIGO designed with Virgil Abloh.

NIGO doesn’t pretend to make progressive menswear unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. That’s not the point. He prefers to create wearable, versatile stuff that you come back to day after day, no-nonsense clobber that’s not designed for anyone except NIGO himself.

All of NIGO’s adidas collaborations are good evidence. Rather than dropping a flashy UltraBoost 4D or timely Forum, NIGO’s really only focused on retro models like the Campus, Country, and Stan Smith, save for a few NMDs.

My point being, NIGO makes clothes that make him happy and that’s that.

That perspective is epitomized in the staggering amount of garments he collects, which range from decade’s-old Levi’s to the retro militaria that inspired some of the best OG BAPE.