A TRIBUTE IN BLACK

Our Dress “Jazz” for the artist Jazz Mang

There are encounters that stay with you for years – through career stages, personal developments, and creative transformations. One such connection is with the wonderful Jazz Mang, a true Berliner whom I met over a decade ago in the world of fashion. Back then, she was a sought-after makeup artist in the industry – she was the one who did the makeup and styling for me and many of my models for shoots and shows. But she never merely adorned us – she always contributed a feeling, an expression, an idea. Yet Jazz had another passion that never let her go: painting…

With the same conceptual thinking that shaped her work as a makeup artist, Jazz developed her own distinctive artistic signature over the years: Her works are powerful, emotional, and full of dynamism – floral patterns, portraits of fragile yet strong women, and always: color.

And yet, among all the vibrancy, there is also its opposite: black. Time and again, she creates works devoted solely to this one deep, honest color. One of these black-and-white paintings has been with me for years – it hangs in my home.

What connects us is not just our long-standing friendship, not just our shared creative language, not just our mutual love for a certain Asian skincare product (a funny discovery during a hospital visit!). But also: our love for black.

Jazz herself often dresses in black. And it is an honor for me to now have a dress named after her: “Jazz.” It is inspired by her personality, her aesthetics, and our shared story. And wonderfully, she has recently been working in parallel on new, exclusively black artworks.

More about Jazz Mang’s work:

Her abstract paintings combine figurative elements – stylized, faceless figures.
Black lines, at times like roots, at times like abstract branches, grow upward and connect with the upper figures. The compositions feel like a dialogue between humanity and nature, or between interior and exterior worlds, fragility and connection.

The semi-transparent layers and sketch-like linework create a depth and ambiguity that invites reflection.

In Jazz Mang’s work, reduced figuration meets expressive abstraction. Stylized human figures – anonymous, without facial features – their necks and shoulders elongated geometrically, their skin built from textured layers of paint.

Central motifs are large, delicate hands reaching outward. They appear as gestures or questions – a silent communication in space.
The underlying surface is a complex network of fine lines, floral hints, pastel areas, and dynamic color traces.

The image is rich in symbolism and opens a space between encounter and distance, inner world and outer landscape. It invites contemplation – on closeness, identity, and the invisible that exists between gestures.

The abstract works are a vivid dialogue of color, line, and form, unfolding across the canvas. The artist combines gestural painting with subtle graphic elements, creating dynamic compositions that balance chance and intuition.
Small details – doodles, spray mists, geometric shapes – invite closer inspection and hint at a layered narrative that remains open to interpretation.

Spontaneous, multilayered, sensitive – with a sense for balance between chaos and structure.

The black, minimalist works captivate through their powerful, gestural abstraction. On a white background, a large, deep-black form unfolds, seemingly created in a single, flowing motion. The texture of the surface reveals the movement of brush or spatula – at times dense and velvety, at times translucent and raw.

The work evokes the tradition of Asian calligraphy and the abstract painting of art informel. It lives from the rhythm and energy of the line, without being bound to a specific form. The composition feels both deliberate and meditative – an expression of inner focus and reduced elegance.