As artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton and founder of the much-coveted luxury streetwear label, Off-White, Virgil Abloh is currently one of the hottest names in fashion.
He is used to causing a stir with high-profile product drops – but perhaps even he wouldn’t have foreseen the frenzy that his latest launch, a collaboration with Swedish homeware giant Ikea, caused this weekend, with fans around the world queuing up to pick up a piece of the Abloh magic at a fraction of the usual cost.
The 15-piece Markerad collection was developed in partnership with Ikea’s creative leader Henrik Most. The duo conducted extensive research into the lives of young adults, in order to understand their needs as they moved out on their own for the first time.
The resultant collection take the brand’s classic minimalist design and imbues it with the deconstructed elements typical of Abloh's work. His signature quotation marks are found throughout the collection, as is his inherent sense of humour. An Ikea receipt is transformed into a rug, door stops are added to table legs, a full-length mirror looks like it has a crack in its top left corner, the ubiquitous blue Ikea bag has been redesigned and now has the word "sculpture" written across its front, and a high-pile rug in deep green has the words “wet grass” emblazoned across it, as if they have been hastily spray-painted on.
“I want each item to bring people a sense of pride, and I want the great design to be the biggest reason why you get it,” Abloh says. “It’s about elevating the anonymous, everyday icons that we use without noticing. When we put a doorstop on one of the legs of an ordinary chair we create something unexpected – an interruption.”
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
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Launch year: 2017
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Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
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Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
