If you buy one Virgil Abloh book, make it Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech. It is the only one that covers all of his work, from Off-White and Louis Vuitton to architecture, furniture and art, in 496 pages built from his own archive. Choose Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS if sneakers are the point, Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh for his years on the runway in Paris, and Abloh-isms or "Insert Complicated Title Here" if you want his ideas in a small, inexpensive book.
Five books cover most of what Abloh made, and each one suits a different reader. We stock Figures of Speech, so weigh our pick with that in mind. The details on the other four come from their publishers.
Virgil Abloh books compared
| Book | Publisher, year | Pages | Size | List price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figures of Speech | DelMonico Books with MCA Chicago, 2022 (first published 2019) | 496 | 9.5 × 12.75 in | $79.95 | His whole career |
| Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS | Taschen, 2021 | 352 | 10 × 11.7 in | $80 | Sneakers and The Ten |
| Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh | Assouline, 2022 | 359 | 10 × 13 in | $140 | His Louis Vuitton shows |
| Abloh-isms | Princeton University Press, 2021 | 160 | 4.25 × 5.25 in | $18.95 | His quotes |
| "Insert Complicated Title Here" | Harvard GSD and Sternberg Press, 2018 | 96 | 5.3 × 8.3 in | $14 | His design method |
1. Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech, the one to buy first
Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech, 2022 edition, $79.95.
Figures of Speech was the catalogue for the exhibition the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago organized in 2019 and toured through 2023. Curator Michael Darling edited it, and Abloh worked on it directly. It has three parts: a catalogue of essays and interviews, an archive of images from his personal files annotated by Abloh himself, and an index of the vocabulary he used for his recurring design themes. Texts come from Rem Koolhaas, Anna Wintour, Kim Jones, Michèle Lamy, Heron Preston, Samuel Ross, Tremaine Emory, Matthew Williams and many more.
No other book on this list covers his art, architecture, furniture, streetwear and high fashion together, so it is the one that explains how they connect. It holds 200 color and 1,732 black and white images.
The first edition came out from DelMonico Books and Prestel in 2019, in two versions. The standard edition sold for $65, and its cover is a photograph of the special edition. The special edition sold for $150 and came in a cloth slipcase with "Personal Copy" printed on the fore edge, a measuring tape for a ribbon marker, and a flexi disc of Abloh talking about his influences, with a photograph by Juergen Teller. DelMonico Books brought Figures of Speech back into print in 2022 for the exhibition's run at the Brooklyn Museum. That 496-page edition is the one we sell, for $79.95, which also clears our $50 free shipping threshold on its own.
2. Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS, for sneakers
In 2017, Abloh and Nike released The Ten, ten classic sneakers taken apart and rebuilt in his style, including the Air Jordan 1 and the Air Presto. Taschen's ICONS documents that project and his wider work with Nike: prototypes, the original text messages Abloh sent to Nike's designers, and pieces from the Nike archives. The second half is a lexicon of the people, places, objects, materials and scenes the project grew from.
Hiroshi Fujiwara, whose Fragment #3 we carry, wrote the foreword, with essays by Nicholas Schonberger, Troy Patterson and Glenn Adamson. London studio Zak Group designed it with a Swiss binding and an open spine. At 352 pages and 5.1 pounds, it is a serious sneaker book. If the person you are buying for cares more about the shoes than the clothes, choose this one.
3. Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh, for the runway years
Abloh was men's artistic director at Louis Vuitton from 2018 until his death in 2021. Assouline's book covers those collections in more than 320 images, with text by Anders Christian Madsen, a fashion critic for British Vogue who worked with Abloh during his time at the house, and reflections from his circle, including NIGO, Naomi Campbell, Luka Sabbat, Kendall Jenner and Kid Cudi.
It comes with two covers: a cartoon cover with artwork by Reggieknow from the spring 2021 show, and a balloon cover from the spring 2022 show in Miami. A larger Ultimate Collection adds a compendium of every sneaker Abloh designed for the house. At $140, it is the most expensive book here, and the best choice for someone who followed the shows.
4. Abloh-isms, for his ideas in your pocket
Princeton University Press collected Abloh's statements from interviews into a 160-page book that fits in a hand, 4.25 × 5.25 inches. The quotes are grouped by theme: his early career, how he worked, race, streetwear and art. At $18.95, it is the easiest way to read him in his own words, and it makes a good small gift for a design student.
5. "Insert Complicated Title Here", for designers
On October 26, 2017, Abloh gave a lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design about building a personal design language. The GSD published the transcript with Sternberg Press as a 96-page paperback, edited by Jennifer Sigler and Leah Whitman-Salkin and designed by the studio Åbäke. In it, Abloh walks through the shortcuts he used for editing, solving problems and telling stories, and how his training in architecture carried into fashion, product design and music. AIGA and Design Observer named it among the 50 best book covers of 2018. It costs $14 and reads in an evening.
Which Virgil Abloh book should you buy?
- For one book on a coffee table: Figures of Speech.
- For a sneaker collector: Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS.
- For a Louis Vuitton fan: Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh.
- For a design student: "Insert Complicated Title Here", then Figures of Speech.
- For a gift under $20: Abloh-isms.
If you are building a shelf around him, Figures of Speech sits well next to the other books in our guide to fashion coffee table books for streetwear fans.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Virgil Abloh book?
Figures of Speech, because it is the only one that covers his whole career. The others each focus on one part of his work.
Which Virgil Abloh books are coffee table size?
Three of them: Figures of Speech at 9.5 × 12.75 inches, ICONS at 10 × 11.7 inches, and Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh at 10 × 13 inches.
Is there a Virgil Abloh book about Louis Vuitton?
Yes. Assouline's Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh, written by Anders Christian Madsen, covers his collections for the house from 2018 to 2021.
What is the difference between the 2019 and 2022 editions of Figures of Speech?
The 2019 edition was published by DelMonico Books and Prestel, as a $65 standard edition and a $150 special edition with a slipcase, a measuring tape ribbon marker and a flexi disc. The 2022 edition from DelMonico Books brought the book back into print at 496 pages, and it is the edition we stock.
sabi is an online boutique based in Portland, Oregon. We stock Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech alongside other fashion and design books from museum publishers, with free US shipping on orders over $50 and local pickup in Portland. List prices are from each publisher as of October 2026.
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