Where fashion, art and culture unite: H&M, Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore collaborate for a collection featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat's works

PRNewsfoto/H&M
PRNewsfoto/H&M

Where fashion, art and culture unite: H&M, Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore collaborate for a collection featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat's works

NEW YORK, PRNewswire -- Together with New York-based fashion designers Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore, the latest H&M collaboration explores Jean-Michel Basquiat's legacy and his impact on young Black creatives. The 30-piece collection merges Basquiat's iconic imagery and rarely seen artworks with Bravado and D'Amore's stained glass motifs and expressive designs. The collection will be available at hm.com and in select stores on August 1st.

Named semi-finalists for the 2024 LVMH Prize and finalists for the 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore are known for their carefully crafted pieces, expert garment distressing and upcycled denim. With this H&M collaboration, they continue to blur the line between fashion, art, and culture, further amplifying the legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat through placement prints, embroidery and embroidered patches of his artworks on their signature silhouettes.

Basquiat is widely considered one of the most important artists of the 20th-century. Inspired by his journey from street artist to renowned art figure, Bravado and D'Amore believe Basquiat's legacy serves as a daily reminder that there are no limits to what they can achieve.

"For us, Basquiat has always been an influential and larger than life figure. To be able to comb through his archives and select rarely referenced artworks is a blessing. The Basquiat estate has been super supportive of our unique vision. Providing this collection on a worldwide scale with H&M makes it ten times more special because it will be largely accessible," say Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore.

"Ev and Téla have quickly become some of the most exciting voices in fashion, and we knew that they would honor Jean-Michel's vision while adding their own distinct style to his work. A central tenet of his legacy is to empower and amplify young black creatives, and through H&M's global platform, we hope to inspire a new generation of artists to carry on his creative spirit," says the Basquiat estate, run by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, sisters of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The 30-piece collection includes tailoring, jackets, short-sleeve shirts, jeans, hoodies, t-shirts and a dress, skirt and corset top, plus accessories. There's a bomber jacket adorned with the vibrant artwork Ass Killer, 1984 and embroidery of the designers' arched window, a black blazer with Basquiat's scribbles about jazz greats Charlie Parker and Miles Davis (Discography 1, 1984), and luxe black leather trousers referencing the artworks Untitled (Ideal), 1988 and Untitled (World Famous), 1983. Other standouts are the unisex distressed denim jacket and matching jeans with Basquiat's art enshrined in the recurring window design.

"Ev and Téla have translated Basquiat's iconic art through a contemporary lens, resulting in a collection that feels new, meaningful and exciting. They also have a deep understanding and connection to Basquiat's life, values and art – and how it all resonates with today's cultural climate. This collection follows their maximalist, 'more is more' designs, but the artistic approach really ties into Basquiat and makes the collaboration a standout," says Ana Hernandez, Menswear Designer at H&M.

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