Virgil Abloh may have announced his three-month hiatus from fashion earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean he had any intention of slowing down. After his SS20 Off-White show in Paris, which the creative director did not attend, and designing Hailey Beiber’s “TILL DEATH DO US PART” wedding dress, Abloh has just released an advert with meatball-come-flat-pack furniture makers, Ikea.
Shared on Abloh’s Twitter and Instagram last night, the advert is slightly more artistic than your classic Ikea ad featuring the nuclear family and a perfectly organised home.
In typical Abloh style, short features a clock emblazoned with the word “TEMPORARY”, which comes in and out of view and gives the whole thing a surreal and existential feel. There is also a light-up Mona Lisa print which charges your phone, in front of which crowds of people snap photos on their iPhones. Elsewhere, a green rug embossed with the words “WET GRASS” is displayed in an all-but empty room, a large Ikea receipt is hung on a wall, a cardboard box-styled tote bag is adorned with the word “STRUCTURE”, and a triangular doorstop is merged into a chair.
“I’m trying to embed an artistic quality in things that you already have,” Abloh explained last year. “So the chair is elevated because it feels more like an art object than a typical chair that serves its function with four equal legs.”
First collaborating with the Swedish furniture brand back in 2017, this collection, which embraces Off-White’s signature style along with Ikea’s minimalistic flair, is called “MARKERAD”.
The collection will be available on November 1. Watch the advert below.