Threading Worlds: Collaborations and Crossovers in the Who Decides War Universe

The Roots of Collaboration: A New Era in Fashion Synergy

Who Decides War (WDW), the brainchild of Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore, has never operated within the silo of traditional fashion design. From its inception, WDW was conceived not just as a clothing brand but as a vehicle for expression—a canvas on which multiple disciplines, voices, and communities converge. Collaboration isn’t just a marketing strategy for WDW; it is embedded into the DNA of the brand’s philosophy. With each season, Bravado and D’Amore explore intersections of faith, resistance, identity, and history through a multidisciplinary and multi-voice approach that inherently invites partnerships.

Their collaborations range from fellow designers and artists to musicians and cultural icons, creating dialogues rather than monologues. WDW’s early partnerships with figures in the music industry, particularly within the hip-hop and R&B scenes, helped establish a visual identity that reflected the emotions, politics, and spiritual undertones of the music itself. These weren’t mere co-signs—they were symbiotic relationships. Whether working with Kanye West’s Sunday Service team or styling visionary artists like Playboi Carti and Offset, WDW has turned fashion into a relational art form.

This approach is part of a larger movement toward interdisciplinary crossovers in the fashion world, but WDW distinguishes itself through its sincerity and thematic cohesion. It’s not about hype. It’s about a shared message, whether spiritual, cultural, or political. Collaboration here means tapping into a collective consciousness, not just a cross-promotional moment.

Artist Meets Artisan: Visual Art and Textile Innovation

Another hallmark of WDW’s collaborative genius is its seamless merging with visual artists and creative technicians across disciplines. These partnerships have resulted in collections that feel like gallery exhibitions as much as fashion drops. Ev Bravado’s background in denim and hand-distressed fabric techniques meets a painter’s eye for composition and layering. The result? Wearable art that goes beyond aesthetics to evoke narrative.

In one standout project, WDW collaborated with contemporary textile artists and embroiderers to produce garments that resembled tapestries—patchworks stitched with messages of survival, resilience, and reverence. These pieces often take hundreds of hours to complete and represent a fusion of old-world craftsmanship with futuristic design language. Collaborations with quiltmakers, graffiti artists, and muralists have likewise contributed to a streetwear vocabulary deeply embedded with meaning.

These artistic fusions allow WDW to operate in spaces that high fashion often ignores: those of Black Americana, spiritual liberation, and working-class storytelling. The artists they collaborate with are frequently from underrepresented communities, and their contributions aren’t simply aesthetic—they shape the ethos of each collection. For WDW, to collaborate with an artist means to elevate them, to embed their message into the garment, and to grant them a wearable gallery of expression.

The tactile richness of WDW’s garments—beaded seams, scorched denim, oxidized hardware—can only be achieved through such intense artistic fusion. That makes their clothing not just visually impactful, but materially revolutionary.

Music as Muse: Sound, Style, and Substance

Perhaps no creative lane has more thoroughly influenced WDW than music. From gospel and hip-hop to punk and soul, music has been both a source of inspiration and a direct point of collaboration for the brand. Music provides rhythm to the runway, depth to the storytelling, and connection to community.

Early supporters of WDW include artists like Kanye West and the late Virgil Abloh, who saw in Ev Bravado a kindred spirit. Kanye’s Sunday Service and Donda experiences influenced a more spiritually expressive direction for the brand. In return, WDW provided pieces that adorned the performers and felt like ritual attire—sacred garb sewn for public awakening.

The music-fashion crossover continues with custom commissions for Travis Scott, Brent Faiyaz, and A$AP Rocky. These aren’t mere stylistic choices; the looks WDW creates often correspond to the themes of the music—melancholy, defiance, joy, or divine struggle. Music videos featuring WDW pieces often resemble short films or visual sermons. In Brent Faiyaz’s visuals, for example, WDW clothing underlines the intimacy and introspection of his lyrics.

Live performances, too, become experiential showcases of WDW’s capabilities. Think stitched sermons and embroidered beats—sound and style moving in lockstep. These collaborations reinforce that WDW does not simply borrow from music culture but is actively shaping its visual vernacular.

Fashion Meets Function: Collaborations with Footwear and Utility Brands

As WDW expands its universe, it continues to seek out partnerships that broaden the scope of what fashion can be. That includes crossover work with footwear giants and utility-minded labels. Collaborations with brands like Nike, Timberland, and Converse are not just about sneaker drops—they’re about contextualizing performance wear in WDW’s mythos of resistance, reconstruction, and resurrection.

For instance, in a potential partnership with Timberland (inspired by their longstanding cultural significance in urban fashion), WDW might elevate the silhouette of the iconic boot with burned edges, baroque stitching, and ecclesiastical symbology. The message is consistent: nothing is purely functional in the WDW universe; everything carries weight—spiritually, historically, and stylistically.

Collaborations with outerwear and techwear designers help expand WDW’s storytelling into new terrains—climate resilience, protest survival gear, and apocalypse couture. Imagine waterproof garments that double as sanctified armor or tactical vests layered with ancestral iconography. These speculative designs may still live in the future, but WDW is steadily carving that future into reality with each new crossover.

This function-forward thinking aligns with growing trends in wearable technology and utilitarian fashion, allowing WDW to participate in conversations beyond just art and culture—to explore fashion’s role in environmental and social sustainability.

Cultural Cross-Pollination: WDW and Global Storytelling

Although rooted in the American Black experience, WDW’s reach is undeniably global. This is evident in their cross-cultural collaborations, which often borrow from diasporic traditions, African and Caribbean textile work, Japanese deconstructionist tailoring, and European embroidery practices.

For example, a potential collaboration with a Japanese brand like Sacai or Undercover could yield garments that fuse religious Western motifs with Eastern sensibilities of balance, void, and repetition. Or a project with Nigerian artisans might focus on indigo dyeing, handwoven fabrics, and Yoruba symbols of spiritual continuity. These hypothetical yet plausible collaborations exemplify WDW’s commitment to a global dialogue.

WDW treats culture not as a costume but as a collaboration—always centering respect, reciprocity, and responsibility. In the era of cultural appropriation scandals, WDW’s partnerships stand out as models of co-authorship rather than consumption.

These multicultural alliances underscore a key tenet of WDW’s ethos: fashion is a universal language best spoken together. Whether working with photographers in Ghana, calligraphers in Iran, or denim artists in South Korea, WDW seeks to tell stories that transcend borders while remaining grounded in lived truth.

The Business of Belief: Strategic Partnerships Without Selling Out

In today’s saturated fashion market, it’s easy for a brand to get lost in the noise of monetized hype. But WDW walks a careful line between cultural integrity and commercial opportunity. Their collaborations are curated with the same care as their collections—nothing is accidental, everything intentional.

Partnerships with mainstream retailers like SSENSE or Dover Street Market help WDW gain visibility while still maintaining their underground credibility. Capsule collections dropped through curated pop-ups or exclusive digital experiences allow for a sense of intimacy, even as the audience grows.

What’s striking is how WDW has avoided the common trap of over-saturation. They don’t release collaborations every month. Instead, they time their crossovers with the rhythm of the world—election cycles, moments of protest, spiritual seasons. Every piece feels timely and urgent, not trend-chasing.

By leveraging strategic collaborations with integrity, WDW proves that it is possible to scale without compromising soul. They’ve created a blueprint for how to retain narrative depth in a market often driven by flash. In a world of fast fashion and faster news cycles, WDW stands as a sanctuary of slow, deliberate, and resonant collaboration.

Conclusion: Crossovers as Cultural Communion

Collaboration is not just a pillar of Who Decides War’s creative practice—it is its life force. In the WDW universe, every crossover is a communion: between artist and audience, faith and form, past and present. Whether merging with musicians, visual artists, global artisans https://whodecideswars.com/ , or even corporate entities, WDW doesn’t just co-create—it co-elevates.

Through a meticulous and meaningful approach to partnerships, WDW offers a model for how fashion can be a collective voice, not a solo performance. It imagines a world where creativity thrives in conversation, where every garment is a dialogue, and where collaboration isn’t a trend—it’s a testimony.