Fashion Follows Basquiat!
Both fashion and art are inevitably intertwined, from high fashion houses borrowing from burgeoning art movements and prominent painters seen walking the runway of major fashion shows. One relationship that confused and intrigued many was the fashion scene’s involvement in graffiti art. Combining high fashion and street art became increasingly popular in New York and has persisted since. The raw and authentic expression imbued in graffiti began to show up on shoes, bags, and runways all over the world. One of the main contributors behind this unique blend of visual art and fashion is Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Who Is Jean-Michel Basquiat?
Born in 1960s Brooklyn, Jean-Michel Basquiat grew from graffiti artist to a high-end name in both visual arts and pop culture seemingly overnight. He became involved in the New York City art scene through his association with a graffiti group. As he gained notoriety in counterculture, the mainstream began to notice his work as well. Even as he transitioned to the higher echelons of visual art, so to speak, his work stayed to the style and appearance of graffiti.
Basquiat is mainly known for his neo-expressionist, chaotic, and abstract style, as he often threw in a variety of discombobulated words and images to express his ethnic and cultural background, as well as a representation of human identity as a whole.
Some of his more famous works include Untitled and Crown. Both of these pieces were completed in 1982 but each one elucidates a different aspect of his art. The first piece includes a crudely drawn skull set against a smeared cyan blue background. Object analysis aside, to Basquiat, both the skull or representation of a cartoonish human head figure is a key motif in exploring his own identity as a Black man. He often uses these humanoid figures to make a comment on the injustices that Black men face, explore his identity as a Puerto-Rican and Haitian immigrant, or discuss the figure of the universal human identity.
Basquiat’s crown motif holds a similar symbolic achievement, as it reappears throughout his work. To extract a true, nuanced meaning of the crowns we would need to look at each piece individually; however, in general, the crowns symbolize a basic desire for Basquiat: royalty. The fame and influence that comes with “the crown” drove Basquiat to continue producing his work, in order to overcome those structural barriers.
How Fashion Follows Basquiat
The fashion world has been taken with Basquiat and his work, most notably since his death in 1988. While Basquiat himself was very involved in the fashion world during his life, his artwork and its likeness have been to creep into popular culture by way of fashion houses. Many designers have worked with the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat to get the green light in order to print his works on their items.
For example, in 2009, Reebok hit the market with high-top shoes designed in the graffiti style of Basquiat for their Fall/Winter 2009 collection. Following this, Japanese fashion conglomerate Uniqlo also partnered with the estate in 2014 to feature some of Basquiat’s key elements into their work. Even high fashion brands have taken from the plethora of Basquiat works, with Comme de Garcon SHIRT using the entire canvas to showcase Basquiat’s style and images. Finally, this fall, Coach took a page of the fashion playbook and used their Fall 2020 debut to portray some of his most popular symbols on garments from bags to clothes.
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Paintings Into Products: How Does He Do It?
Basquiat himself was deeply involved in and influenced by contemporary fashion trends. He remained a close figure to many designers, even in death, as to what they wanted to emulate. As Comme de Garcon used his entire pieces on some of their shirts, Basquiat also walked for their runway in the spring of 1987. In his early years, Basquiat was also reported to have been “trading canvasses for clothes.” As someone who loved a lifestyle with luxury, Basquiat commandeered the fashion industry for his art: he was known to paint in Armani Jackets and Miyake sunglasses. His fashion choices helped him “situate his work within context and conversations about Pablo Picasso, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol,” creating the first precedent for Black artists to aspire to.
“He loved all the big names, Armani, Issey Miyake... Jean-Michel never did anything half-way” – J. Stearns
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The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat handles licensing for his symbols and works on a case-by-case basis even though none of his works are officially off-limits. Much of Basquiat’s work can now be seen on a day-to-day basis, screen printed on shoes, clothes, and bags alike. While the merchandise uses his likeness and his work, the question remains: does it communicate the same veracity and influence as the artist himself?
Maybe…Basquiat Finally Has His Crown?
One idea that proponents of Basquiat-fashion laud are Basquiat’s own willingness to use his image. Since Basquiat himself used fashion as performance –– painting barefoot in an Armani suit –– he wouldn’t mind the fashion industry doing the same to him.
EV Grieve, an East Village-centric blog website, recorded a podcast, interviewing New York artist Al Diaz and discussing his friendship with Basquiat. Diaz had known Basquiat since the latter’s early graffiti years when he painted under the alias “SAMO.” Diaz, who is still active in the graffiti art community, maintains that Basquiat would have “been perfectly fine with the art lovers paying tribute to him by actually looking at his paintings and also totally cool with someone remembering him by wearing a Basquiat inspired Comme de Garcons Basquiat shirt.” If Basquiat was a willing participant in his work’s commodification, he may finally see the widespread distribution of his likeness as a symbolic victory for the crown he had been chasing throughout his life.
Maybe…The Crown Has Lost Its Meaning?
Others in the art scene think differently. Even if Basquiat himself wouldn’t have minded the public appeal and popularity surrounding the commodification of his work, some artists and fashion critics wonder whether the sheer quantity and repetition of motifs such as the skull and crown take away from the works’ meaning. While the artist’s intentions are an important part of judging the work, the standalone piece means something as well. Thus, in critics’ eyes, if we are looking at the same piece of graffiti, displayed over and over again, once on a shirt and again on a bag, are we focusing on what he intended to represent?
Anyway, those who knew Basquiat and his legacy maintain that he would feel a sense of pride seeing the widespread dissemination of his work. Others, however, are critical of its oversaturation in fashion, looking at it from the perspective of the canvas, not the artist. Whichever camp you land it, it’s obvious that Basquiat is here to stay.
