Over the past ten years the collaborations have increased between high fashion brands and videogame franchises. The last example: the Louis Vuitton fashion show on 21 January open by Final Fantasy. A reflection on a strange combination that is proving to be successful for the world of fashion.
Paris, January 21st. The winter parade is about to start Man 2025 by Louis Vuitton. To sanction the entry of the models on the catwalk is the song “One Winged Angel” taken from Final Fantasy VII, Japanese video game released in 1997 For the first PlayStation. A moment that made it clear how solid the relationship between fashion and video games. Two worlds perceived distant, but which in the last decade have strengthened an unexpected synergy.
Final Fantasy heroes as a fashion icons
Final Fantasy It is one of the videogame series that has been born in 1986 from the beginning) aimed at a refined aesthetic, far from the classic fantasy iconography. This ambition is enclosed in the style of Yoshitaka lovean artist who dealt with the design of characters and monsters of the first six chapters of the series. His long -entered, enigmatic figures dressed in clothes dotted with numerous details and accessories, are now iconic. A style perfectly adaptable to fashion, so much so that it ended in 2020 on the cover on Vogue Italia.
Fashion and video games | The cover of Vogue made by Yoshitaka Amano
Even after Rendini’s passage to Tetsuya nomura for Final Fantasy Character Design, accessories and stylistic details have remained characteristic elements of the protagonists. In the 2012the cast of Final Fantasy XIII is chosen as testimonial by Prada for the eastern countryside. Three years later, the protagonist Lightning becomes a model for Louis Vuitton. A more than desired decision from Artistic director Nicolas Ghesquièrealready at the time convinced that the mixture between digital, virtual and cybernetic would have been increasingly incisive in the creation of lines of clothes. Also in this case we are talking about a marketing initiative aimed at the Asian public, more open to experiments of this type.
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Fashion and video games | Hope, a character of Final Fantasy XIII, as a testimonial for Prada.
Fashion brands invade video games
The experiments successful in Asia have opened the way to new types of collaborations for an international public. In 2019, Louis Vuitton always created a line of t-shirts and themed shoes League of Legendswith pieces worth 1140 dollars (as in the case of the LV Archlight sneakers). However, it is with the 2020 Pandemic that this kind of initiatives takes more foot. A case to mention is the collaboration between Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Valentino. In detail, the well -known Italian fashion house has recreated twenty looks belonging to the spring – summer 2020 collection to be used in the Nintendo collection champion video game.
Fashion and video games | Burberry’s digital 2023 collection with Minecraft
In the years following the isolation from Covid-19, more and more fashion brands have therefore increased their presence within the videogame world: from Vans and its skate themed level on Robloxpassing through the island of Dolce and Gabbana on Fortniteup to the digital collection of Burberry on Minecraft. Thanks to the spread of real videogame worlds that young people use as meeting places, the fashion brands find spaces to occupy with their style proposals, going beyond magazines and specialized events.
Find your style thanks to video games
Although nerd and fashion culture are seen by the common opinion as two irreconcilable areas, in reality the stylistic figure of the characters plays an important role within the videogame experience. Titles like The Sims Or the future Inzoi, who simulate daily life, focus a lot on the variety of clothes and styles to provide their audience creative possibilities and high impersonifications. In this sense, video games become places where they can experiment with clothes and accessories e find your identity.
Fashion and video games | Innzoi character customization screen, South Korean video game on the way this year
These speech takes on greater meaning if aimed at fantasy titles, which normally offer a great variety of customization. Between armor, hair, materials, but also pajamas (as happens in Baldur’s Gate 3), players and players can find The most representative style for the same and for their videogame alter-ego. Element particularly appreciated by video gamers women and non-bins, according to a relationship of Quantic Foundry of 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xydswdyho-q
