Ikea is known for a lot of things – affordable prices, Scandinavian design, meatballs, tote bags, mandated assembly. It’s also increasingly known for stellar collaborations with art, fashion, and pop culture heavyweights that feel like once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
Among these collaborations is the one with Virgil Abloh, Off-White designer, Kanye West protegé, and overall maverick. His 15-item collection, MARKERAD, has been hotly anticipated and it drops today in the US and the UK.
In the US, the collection dropped in stores at 10:00 a.m. today and customers will only be able to purchase one single item from the collection. In the UK, the collection is available to buy in select locations (Dublin, Croydon, and Wembley) through November 3rd for the folks who scored tickets today. And if there’s any leftover on the 4th, non-ticket holders can snag the remaining merch.
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Wembley, in particular, is doing the absolute most in promoting the collection. For the first time in the brand’s history, it changed its logo, adding quotation marks. Ikea is now “Ikea.” Yes, this is a nod to Abloh’s penchant for ironic punctuation marks and postmodern hyper-awareness of language. But it also kind of looks like a sarcastic teenager’s take on “Ikea,” whatever that may be.
Nonetheless, the lines to cop TEMPORARY clocks and WET GRASS rugs go on for what looks like miles, and the Swedish brand leaned into the Scandinavian instinct for coziness and provided love seats, blankets, and hot beverages. This is one of the brand's most anticipated drops and it's been the particular focus of hypebeasts on both sides of the Atlantic.