H&M collaborates with designers on Basquiat collection

H&M is launching a collection from fashion designers Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore that features imagery from artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, the company announced last week. The 30-piece line will be available on the retailer’s e-commerce site and in select stores in July.

The denim-centric collaboration will blend stained glass designs from Bravado and D’Amore with Basquiat’s art and embroidered scribbles and text. The collection offers outerwear, tops, jeans, hoodies, a dress and accessories, including a bomber jacket featuring Basquiat’s 1984 piece “Ass Killer” and a blazer covered in Basquiat’s writing on Charlie Parker and Miles Davis from his work “Discography 1.” Prices range from about $20 for a baseball cap to about $360 for leather pants.

Bravado and D’Amore, who were 2024 LVMH Prize semi-finalists and 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, work extensively with distressing and upcycled denim, per the release.

“For us, Basquiat has always been an influential and larger than life figure,” Bravado and D’Amore said in the release. “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.”

Basquiat, one of the most famous and influential contemporary artists of the 20th century, was known for his neoclassical graffiti-infused work, which often incorporated statements about racism.

“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,” Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s sisters and owners of the Basquiat estate, said in the release. “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.”

Ana Hernandez, H&M’s menswear designer, said in the release that Bravado and D’Amore “have translated Basquiat’s iconic art through a contemporary lens” in this collection.

“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,” Hernandez said. “This collection follows their maximalist, ‘more is more’ designs, but the artistic approach really ties into Basquiat and makes the collaboration a standout.”