ARTIST ROP VAN MIERLO BRINGS HIS INVENTIVE ART TO H&M WITH A COLLECTION FOR KIDS AND BABIES

H&M is pleased to present an imaginative kidswear collaboration with Dutch artist Rop van Mierlo. Featuring creative prints adapted from van Mierlo’s ‘Wild Animals’ project, a free-spirited series of watercolour paintings of animals on wet paper, the collection combines colourful graphics and original hand-drawn patterns to magical effect. Encompassing sizes for kids and babies, the collection is defined by modern shapes. It spans T-shirts, sweaters and shorts alongside versatile tie-detail dresses and a wrap skort, accompanied by vibrant swimwear and accessories. The Rop van Mierlo x H&M kidswear collection will launch in stores and at hm.com from 4 April 2024.

“When I created the Tiger, my first ‘Wild Animals’ painting, in 2008, it was purely a concept – I was trying to express an untamable animal in an untamable medium, using a wet-on-wet technique that I learnt at school as a child. Over the years, my series ‘Wild Animals’ has grown into a crazy-big body of work. I’m excited to present my work to a bigger audience in a more affordable way with this H&M collection,”

says artist Rop van Mierlo.

Light-hearted in spirit and uniquely collectible in style, the collection’s key looks pair simple silhouettes with lightweight fabrics energised by joyful colour and bold print. Five paintings are featured – including a jaguar, a zebra, a horse, two baby goats and a butterfly – as well as new works comprising hand-painted stripes, tie-dye-style prints and a paisley bandana. T-shirts in organic cotton are the hero items, each printed with a vibrant and unique animal painting, while eye-catching repeat pattern zebras and jaguars appear across a swimming costume, trunks and a bucket hat. Two terry sweater-and-shorts sets feature the bold tie-dye print. Meanwhile the hand-painted stripes appear in an earthy colour palette on a linen-mix dress with ribbon-tie straps, a relaxed shirt and shorts combo, a wrap skort and a baseball cap. In accessories, a zebra-print tote bag and bandana will be favourites for the whole family.

 “The H&M design team fell in love with Rop van Mierlo’s inventive paintings of animals – some fluffy and cute, some intriguing and mysterious. We’re thrilled to share a curated mix of his most recognisable paintings as well as distinctive new works to our younger customers with a very wearable collection that captures the charm of his series called ‘Wild Animals’. We hope these pieces encourage a spirit of adventure and artistic experimentation,”  

says Sofia Löfstedt, Head of Kidswear Design and Creative at H&M.

About Rop van Mierlo

Rop van Mierlo is a Dutch graphic designer and artist based in Amsterdam, with a loose, unconventional style that lends his work a dreamlike and sometimes humorous quality. He created the first of his ‘Wild Animals’ series of paintings for his senior thesis ‘Bonsai & Poodles’, which explored the human urge to control the natural world, while studying at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2008. Experimenting with a wet-on-wet painting technique inspired by one he first learnt as a child, van Mierlo’s animals have an intriguingly fluffy quality formed by the random bleeding of acrylic, gouache and ink on wet paper. Having collaborated with international fashion and lifestyle brands, in 2020 he launched ‘Wild Animals’ as a creative platform for products based on his paintings.