MAGIC CARPET: Virgil Abloh is set to spark another Paris Fashion Week stampede once again, with a pop-up shop offering a selection of limited-edition Ikea rugs by the designer set to hit the city’s Cité de la Mode et du Design on Sept. 29.
Dubbed “Still Loading” — in quote marks bien sûr — the event will serve as a taster for the designer’s home collection with the Swedish retailer due to launch in late 2019.
“We just couldn’t wait. A lot of people are engaged and curious about this collaboration…and we constantly get the question when we will make it available to people. So we decided to respond to this by speeding things up a bit and releasing a few rugs,” said Henrik Most, creative leader at Ikea Range and Supply. The designs “say a lot about the collaboration and who Virgil is,” he added. “They are bold, contemporary and carry messages of our time.”
Abloh, founder of Off-White and men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, said he believes the designs “can become art pieces you put on the wall just as much as functional objects in a home. Like, ‘Hey! I own this coveted piece.’”