No, they’re not petite satin pillows for your ears. They’re overpriced headphone covers, à la Vermeer.
Silky blue headphone slips inspired by the elusive Dutch master’s 1665 “Girl With a Pearl Earring” are just one of many electronic accessories that have come out of a new collaboration between the Mauritshuis art museum in the Hague and the Hong Kong-based phone case company Casetify. The slips are meant to be worn over Apple’s AirPods Max, and as a reporter for the Verge noted, they unfortunately cover the headphones’ controls.
Priced at a measly $184 (not a joke) and already out of stock, the slips mimic the blue headwrap worn by the original painting’s subject and even feature an iridescent resin pearl earring dangling from one side. The product line also includes phone cases and laptop sleeves inspired by 17th-century Dutch masterworks like “The Goldfinch” (1654) by Carel Fabritius and Jan Davidsz de Heem’s “Vase with Flowers” (1670).
The collaboration comes at a time when it seems like more and more cultural institutions are teaming up with shopping mall-caliber brands in sometimes bizarre and unexpected partnerships (think: The Met x Pacsun or Lancôme x Louvre). What’s next? Sunflower nipple pasties by Van Gogh Museum x Nood? (Hey, I’m not opposed.)