Mon 23rd April
Ding! It’s finally here. The elevator that is. That’s the noise they make. Step inside and keep your eyes firmly glued to your feet. Notice how everyone else is doing the same. Just before the door closes, a man intervenes with his umbrella, prising the door back open before he chuckles to himself and finds some empty space to look into. Nobody moves. Nobody speaks. This is “elevator syndrome”, the term founded by Swedish scientist Gunnar Johansson. It was the thinking behind Carsten Höller’s 2004 installation and it’s now been distilled a second time via Byredo’s Elevator Music collaboration with Off-White.
We’d explain the concept ourselves, but since Virgil Abloh did such an eloquent job of it when we spoke to him last month (get us), we thought we’d let him do it. “It [elevator music] is background minimal design that gives an emotion, it’s just enough, not the full song, just thirty seconds until you get to your floor. But what me and Ben [Gorham] honed in on was maximum information with the least amount of design, it’s not just minimalism, it’s minimalism to equal emotion.” Woof. This Byredo X Off-White capsule collection then, comprising fragrance, denim, t-shirts and bags, is all about exploring the least amount of information we, the consumer, require to understand what a product is all about. In this case, luxury goods. Obvs. All we require is a whaffeur, a soupçon and we’re there. Speaking of which, this is our floor.
byredo.co.uk/www.off—white.com
