BOSS SKETCH

Photography by Rafa YusteStyling by Carmen BellotText by Caroline Issa

“Take heart.” Never have two words felt so important than today. Even more succinct is the symbol of the heart. “I wanted something a little bit warmer, more from the heart, more emotional than what we’ve done in the past,” says BOSS’ chief brand officer Ingo Wilts on the origins of the brand’s new holiday capsule collaboration with New York-based illustrator Justin Teodoro, known for bold illustrations in coloured marker strokes. “I was dreaming who the best person to collaborate with could be, and Justin came straight to mind!” From there, things progressed rapidly. “We go way back. I think we met the first time in 2010 or 2011 when I was working in New York,” says Wilts. “As you do these days, I went on Instagram and messaged him asking to meet. When we did, it was an instant click.” Teodoro shares Wilts’ sentiment: “What I loved about this project was how Ingo urged me to put myself into it. We landed on the hearts and stars in an instant, symbols of emotional positivity and light. I use these in my artwork, too, especially hearts, so it was a natural relationship. I think we just hit the right spot and built the collection from there together.”

While the collaboration – which sees a range of garments and accessories adorned with Teodoro’s brushy iconography – predates the pandemic, its clear-eyed optimism seems well-poised to cut through the often all-encompassing bleakness that now passes for day-to-day life. “We never expected something like the situation that we’re in right now when we began the collaboration,” says Wilts, “but there was no sense that we needed to go in a different direction. What comes from the heart is more important now than it was the day we began planning everything. It’s a perfect match.” The kind of unfiltered emotion and personality that comes from an authentic, playful collaboration are more vital than ever in a time when our shared vulnerability has never been more apparent. “Everything’s changed,” says Teodoro, “you just look at things differently. I want to look at things and have that emotional connection.”

If the connection Teodoro describes is present in the collection, that’s because it was born of that notion. Both Teodoro and Wilts speak of the collaboration with joyous excitement, and while the pandemic has presented no shortage of obstacles for both, it’s also served as a reminder of the pleasures of open-ended co-creation. “Within Covid restrictions, we have had to adjust everything,” says Wilts, with a hint of wistfulness. “On the one hand, that’s been very stressful, but on the other, it gives you this beauty because you can do whatever you want. You can explore things you’ve never done before. I think a good collaboration is when you have more ideas than you can realise, and this was the thing with Justin from the very beginning. It was so fluent. It was like a snowball that rolls down the hill and never gets stopped.” A feeling definitely spoken from the heart. ◉