Ikea suits are now a thing and there's a great message behind them

Hey guys: what's Swedish, delightfully gaudy, and loved by almost everyone over the age of 50? No, it's not ABBA - it's Ikea. Now I've got that truly terrible joke out the way, you need to hear about these new suits they're bringing out.

This month, the furniture giant has teamed up with Savile Row tailor, William Hunt, in order to produce a range of eye-watering, garish suits using Ikea prints and fabrics. There are four different designs available (all of which are in patterns currently sported by the likes of couches and bedsheets), and the results are every bit as bright and bold as you'd expect.

Unfortunately, they aren't for sale - but there is a way you can get your hands on one.

The overall project is apparently Ikea's way of encouraging people to bring a little more "personality" into their homes, and they're offering a snazzy suit to anyone who can best explain how they are a "maverick with fabric" in their day-to-day life.

William Hunt, the tailor behind the campaign, talked about how the project encourages people to apply their fashion sense to their interior design as well as their clothes.

"I love the idea of people taking fashion and style and embracing it by taking it further into their homes," they said.

"Our partnership with Ikea is important as we are encouraging the public to push themselves just a little, and to show off their character in their own homes.

"We at William Hunt create heroes out of ordinary men and women through our suits, the Ikea suits create heroes out of everyday textiles and furniture."

Ikea says that they felt compelled to create the daringly drastic suits after discovering that most of their customers usually "played it safe" when it came to picking out a new pattern or item of furniture for their home. In fact, 83 percent of people are likely to opt for white or beige products when decorating their interior - with many admitting to doing so because they simply do not know what is "on trend" at the moment.

"We’re seeing an increasing number of people playing it safe when it comes to decorating and furnishing their home," said Carol McSeveny, textiles leader at Ikea.

"But, when the home can act as a canvas for self-expression, why keep things beige and boring?" she went on. "People use fabric in fashion to show off their personality and we want people to replicate this in their home through textiles."

So, if you want a chance at nabbing a Beetlejuice-style stripy suit to wear to work, or perhaps a horrifically floral number you can use to embarrass your friend at their wedding, why not enter the competition?

Or, if you're not in the mood to leave it down to chance, why not get crafty with it? Ikea - or, indeed almost any furniture store - will have a ton of interesting fabrics to choose from, so what's stopping you from buying a load of curtains and making your own beautifully ugly creation?

Either way, whether you enter or not, this initiative seems like a great way to encourage people to jazz up their home interiors, and I am totally here for it.