Clothing store H&M recently launched a new line of garments done in collaboration with the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and rising fashion label Who Decides War.
This collaboration grew out of the exhibition “King Pleasure,” which was put on by the artist’s sisters in 2022. The show brought together rarely seen paintings, drawings, and related ephemera, and featured collaborations with various brands, including one with Who Decides War designers Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore.
Whereas Basquiat is typically associated with popular motifs like skulls and crowns, however, these clothes take their cues from the artist’s lesser known work.
“We really wanted to take it in a way that spoke about the Black artists’ experience,” Bravado told Vogue. Some of the referenced Basquiat pieces “highlight those artists who were extremely influential to him,” Bravado explained.
“When I see a lot of the other collabs that people have done with the estate,” Bravado continued, “we always see the same things. But it’s like, ‘Okay, here’s a man who’s probably the most renowned artist of all time, let’s tell the story of the people who influenced him. and how we were influenced by him, and how we will continue to influence and continue to push forward Black art and culture.”
Basquiat cut his teeth in the New York art scene in the 1980s. Despite his untimely passing and his relatively short career, his legacy continues to provoke and inspire, and his work still continues to fetch record sales.
The Basquiat-inspired clothes will be available in select stores beginning on July 18.
