In State of the Art, a column for Highsnobiety, Chris Erik Thomas untangles the crossover between fashion and art.

The ads for the second A BATHING APE x Van Gogh Museum collaboration feel designed to cause me psychic pain. It isn’t just that the sneakers and toy BE@RBRICK collectibles are covered in unimaginative floral prints pulled from the painter’s Sunflowers and Almond Blossom s; it's that everything is literally arranged in old wooden frames, then set against a simple, matching backdrop.

Placing BAPE museum merch in an antique frame doesn't magically give it some gravitas, but it does offer a strong visual metaphor for how uninspired this all feels. And it isn’t even the only crossover causing anguish lately.

There’s the latest KAWS × UNIQLO collection, filled with simplistic branded T-shirts and sweatshirts with the overhyped artist’s newest characters, and the confusing Nike x MoMA Air Rift 2 sneaker in a colorway that’s meant to be giving “pop art” but actually just looks like a neon-hued fever dream (set in Miami Beach).

The logic is sound: big brands lean toward big-name artists because they’re recognizable and easily marketable. The average person is more likely to recognize clothing with KAWS’ mascot-like riff on Mickey Mouse, or a floral print shoe in Van Gogh’s distinctive style, than, say, a hoodie with work from some indie painter.

But by constantly rehashing the same handful of overplayed artists , it’s created a cycle of mediocrity. Sorry to Louis Vuitton’s Keith Haring-centric 2027 Cruise collection, but slapping his squiggly lines on clothes hasn’t been interesting for years.

The pervasiveness of these superstar art collaborations is ironic given that, actually, there’s no shortage of interesting painters and sculptors and videographers out there. Partnering with them doesn’t just boost the artist; it also lends the brand freshness — a quality the BAPE x Van Gogh drop just can’t muster.

Mass-market brands like UNIQLO or Nike tend to cling to safety, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. There was once a tangible mania for this kind of product: the 2019 KAWS x UNIQLO collection, marketed as his last , caused stampedes at stores around China and crashed its online shop. That was the golden era for these kinds of major mashups, and these collections likely still sell well enough to warrant more.

It's just hard to square these stale art-fashion crossover collections, made to stock museum gift shop shelves, with the genuinely exciting work other brands are doing. Using marketing muscle to platform smaller artists isn’t just cool; it signals taste.

Supreme worked with Hungarian artist Rita Ackermann and Korean visual designer Art Dealer for its Fall/Winter 2026 collection; LOEWE's Fall/Winter 2026 collection features a range of crustacean-inspired pieces by German artist Cosima Von Bonin; the new Jil Sander FW26 campaign is more performance art than ad, featuring a grainy art film by Moni Haworth. And that’s to say nothing of the many fashion brands directly supporting cultural institutions or funding art shows, like Bottega Veneta’s sponsorship of the upcoming Peggy Guggenheim exhibition in London.

I understand that being aggrieved by the sight of another Haring or KAWS or, god forbid, Andy Warhol-inspired collection is a self-inflicted wound. But at some point the laws of diminishing returns must finally come for the stale roster of artists big brands just can’t quit, right? …Right??