A leading company aimed at virtual transformation.
Thanks to a new assignment through Virgil Abloh and Mercedes-Benz, two of our favorite worlds, art and automobile, collide.
For the new artistic effort entitled Gel-ndewagen Project, Abloh was responsible for producing an exclusive art fostered through the diversity of luxury SUVs of the German car manufacturer. The multiline union, better known as off-White founder and leading men’s fashion designer at Louis Vuitton, worked hard with Gorden Wagener, Mercedes’ design director, to get him to work. Following the initial virtual revelation on September 8, a local replay will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to arts-focused charities.
“Mercedes-Benz is a brand that stands for luxury and exceptional performance,” said Abloh in a press release. Leaning heavily into a car analogy, he called the collaboration “a perfect chassis to interject modern artists’ ideas of what the future can be stylistically, within conceptual car design.”
The company arrives at a very important time for Mercedes, as the logo tries to expand its reach. “I don’t see us as much as an automotive company, but as a way of life and a luxury logo, because our paintings go far beyond cars,” Wagener told Forbes earlier this month.
Wagener believes Project Gel-ndewagen is an herbal extension of the Mercedes brand. “One of the main reasons for our good fortune is our aesthetic soul and the exclusive taste of our home. The next step in selling Mercedes-Benz’s design is our collaboration with Virgil Abloh.”
In an exclusive interview with WWD, Bettina Fetzer, Vice President of Marketing at Mercedes-Benz, revealed that art was originally scheduled to debut on a physical occasion at Paris Men’s Fashion Week. However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, these plans were occasionally abandoned.
“This is an opportunity for us to use all the artistic strength we get from those projects and see how we can redefine the appearance of a virtual occasion,” he told the fashion industry. “We chose a technique with a unique narrative. Basically, we take the audience to our adventure and the artistic spirit of Gordon and Virgil.” With those two ports, it’s an adventure we’d be willing to undertake.