Anime and Manga Meet Fashion

Collaborations are always exciting. When I hear that two things that I love, like anime/manga culture and fashion, are working together to create something, I can’t help but to get hyped. Some of the rarest and potentially most unique collabs are those between clothing brands and entertainment groups/brands. Both organizations are known for their visual arts, whether it’s made of threads or on the screen, and a partnership like that will inevitably turn out amazing pieces of work.

Now, let’s look at one of my personal favorite collaborations that I can’t afford, Ground Y by Yohji Yamamoto X Evangelion. Evangelion is a psychological action series that tackles themes of growth, nihilism, and pride that has lots of famous visual effects and scenes some of which are captured perfectly on Ground Ys amazing silhouettes. My favorite piece from the collection is this pair of pants that captures the visual cuts the show often used to signify the main character being forced to cycle through his memories. Another amazing piece is shown in this picture, I love the draped look of the shirt and it almost looks like a dress, the layers are also amazing and are topped off with some great concept art from the show. Another amazing piece is shown in this picture. I love how long and draped the piece is as it gives the dress shirt an almost dress-like quality and makes it look extremely elegant. The layering is also superb with contrasting colored robes and concept art from the show to add visuals on the blank garments. These two pieces show what I love when I see collaborations, either working off of something the brand already has and elevating it with elements from the other entity, or when a brand tries to capture a theme or idea from the other entity and create something new with it.

PRADA AND EX MACHINA

Another extremely interesting yet lesser known collaboration with an anime movie premiere was way back in 2007 with Miuccia Prada heading the design of Appleseed: Ex Machina’s protagonist. The two outfits designed for the movie are loosely based on Pradas own cocktail dresses, however a more unique black jumper was also created to fall more in line with the movie’s aesthetic. This is another great example of a collaboration showing both parties beautifully, a Prada dress in the movie and a black jumper designed by Prada to fit the movie's theme. I mean it’s not farfetched to see someone incorporate anime into their clothes today, but the fact that Miuccia Prada did it back in 2007 is insane!

SORAYAMA AND DIOR

Recently, Dior has released a ton of pieces in collaboration with renowned Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama. Sorayama is most known for his famous erotic robotic life visuals and has recieved worlwide praise for his beautiful hyper realistic illustrations. While Sorayama's illustrations are not anime or manga, there are some similarities I noticed both in design and themes. Futuristic robotic humanoids are no stranger to manga culture and lots of his designs feature cherry blossoms, a popular visual used in Japanese culture. This shows the wide reach of manga and anime culture as it has even influenced artists who collaborate with high-end fashion houses. The Dior collaboration features these futuristic themes and brings Sorayama's hyper-realistic style into reality. This is clearly shown with the chrome plated saddle bag as it literally looks like it was ripped straight out of Sorayama's illustrations. The saddle bag is an iconic Dior accessory and seeing it adopting the gold and chrome touch from Sorayama is absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the collection also prominently features the familiar robotic theme with cherry blossoms scattered along.

MICHAEL B JORDAN'S COACH AND NARUTO

A collab that really blindsided me was the announcement of Michael B. Jordan x Coach x Naruto. Michael B Jordan became the face of Coach mens back in 2018 and his first major project with the brand tapped into his love for anime featuring one of his favorite shows, Naruto. Now, the collection as a whole is alright to me, but there was one piece that captured my eye. The collections bomber jacket is a 2 in 1 piece which has removable sleeves and transforms the jacket into a vest. The vest reminds me a ton of the vests seen in the show that are worn by Jonin and it’s honestly a missed opportunity to not just make a recreation of that exact vest as it's both iconic and drippy. The rest of the collection consists of graphic tees that you could get at Uniqlo for half the price, denim jackets that look like someone on r/streetwearstartup drew, cargos, and various accessories. While this definitely wasn’t a collaboration I expected, I’m pleasantly surprised by a few of the pieces as I never really gave Coach the time of day in the past.

BAPE AND DRAGON BALL Z

Now, this isn’t a specific collaboration in particular, but Bapes Baby Milo has an obvious manga influence. Baby Milo is extremely popular in asian countries such as Taiwan, China, and Japan as it resembles other popular characters such as Hello Kitty. In fact, Sanrio (the creators of Hello Kitty) recently welcomed Baby Milo as one of their official characters, cementing the character more and more into Japanese manga culture. The brand has also regularly collabed with anime series and have adapted characters from those series in their own signature Baby Milo style. This includes characters from iconic series like Dragon Ball and Naruto. These collaborations also work especially well for Baby Milo as its a brand that is geared towards a younger audience which includes the children that watch these shows.