Blazers Can Be Beautiful But These Are Actual Art
Freshly unveiled at Art Basel: fashion brand Boss has collaborated with the German photographer Katharina Sieverding to produce a limited edition series of blazers featuring a self-portrait from Sieverding’s work Die Sonne um Mitternacht Schauen VI/196 9, 1973. A pioneer of conceptual photography, and the official Campaign Artist for Art Basel in 2026, Sieverding is recognised for her impactful, large-scale self-portraits, through which she has interrogated themes of power, identity and media structures since the 1970s.
Constructed using 100% wool, the silk lining of each blazer has been printed with Sieverding’s intimate photograph of her own face and retails for CHF 2,500. Handmade in Germany, the garments were debuted and made available to purchase exclusively at the Art Basel Shop as an extension of the ongoing partnership between Art Basel and Boss, which is now in its second year. The partnership sees Boss positioned as the Presenting Partner of the Art Basel Awards, which celebrates a global cohort of 33 medallists across nine categories.
Held in the Swiss city from which it borrows its name, Art Basel is one of the most important dates in the art world calendar. What began in 1970 as an initiative by Basel-based gallerists has evolved into a benchmark global event, with annual flagship editions spanning Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris and Qatar, which made its debut in January of this year despite political unrest in the region.
Describing himself as an art lover and keen collector, Boss Creative Director Marco Falcioni explains that while he believes there is a “thick line” separating fashion and art, there is a dialogue between the two that is worth exploring through creative collaboration. Speaking to Highsnobiety, he explains, “I would not address fashion as art, but undeniably there is a conversation [between the two] that art gives to us that is deeper than other sponsorships we have. It is a conversation that takes more time, that is not about other practices we support like sport or celebrity. It is a conversation where you have to stop, you have to think.”
Highlighting the synergy between Boss’s tailoring heritage and the depth of sentiment that is embedded in the practices and resulting works of contemporary artists, he continues, “Tailoring is something that takes a little longer than making a T-shirt or a hoodie. So I feel that the time you invest in tailoring a blazer is more similar to the time you spend sitting in front of an artwork and exploring the sentiment.”
Falcioni, who has led the creative direction of Boss since March 2022, also revealed that we can expect to see more art world collaborations from Boss, stating, “They are all going to be different, because that’s what art deserves.”
