Gucci, Uniqlo and Louis Vuitton — how fashion houses are taking over the gaming industry

Fashion on VGTimes? Why not! Video games have long been a part of popular culture — and fashion too. Even the Gucci mobile app lets you play glitchy copies of classic titles like Pac-Man or Pong. And other fashion houses are going even further: creating collaborations with game developers, presenting new collections with the help of interactive entertainment, and generally slowly taking over the gaming industry. Let's talk about this.

The first to not be afraid to enter the gaming industry was the Japanese brand Uniqlo, which 10 years ago created a collaboration with Capcom, the developer of Monster Hunter. The collection includes both real T-shirts based on the game and virtual skins for game characters. Interestingly, the latter were not simply sold. To become the owner of a virtual outfit, gamers had to complete a special quest from Uniqlo.

Apparently, the partnership was mutually beneficial, since a few years later the companies united again to carry out a restock. And in 2019, a commemorative collection of Monster Hunter was released, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the series, and T-shirts designed in the theme of the classic Street Fighter, another famous Capcom series.

Of course, clothing manufacturers could not ignore the most famous real-life simulator — the The Sims series. Back in 2012, The Sims 3: Diesel Stuff expansion was released, the name of which speaks for itself. Players were treated to not only new clothes, but also interior items to decorate their virtual home. Unfortunately, there were very few of them: a few lamps, a couple of armchairs, a sofa and several tables.

But there were more than enough clothes. The designers at Diesel have done an excellent job, designing a ton of T-shirts, sweaters, trousers and, of course, their signature jeans. The players, which is rare for such promotional campaigns, received the addon quite warmly — the things really turned out nice.

Having assessed the moves of competitors, the Italian brand Moschino released its own collection — this time for The Sims 4. In addition to clothes, the addition introduced a career as a freelance fashion photographer into the game. But the main thing was that an offline collection with prints in the form of pixelated clothes was also released — like a long sleeve with a biker jacket printed on it. It looks at least unusual.

Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott commented on the collaboration: «I like to play with the theme of “reality versus fantasy.” That's why the partnership with The Sims 4 was ideal from the very beginning.»

And this is not the first time the brand has worked with games. In 2015, Moschino, together with Nintendo, released a collection dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. Fans of the Italian plumber could purchase T-shirts, sweaters, bags, wallets and even belts with the image of their favorite hero. And not only with him: other characters of the game also found a place on branded items.

Louis Vuitton also has a fairly close relationship with the gaming industry. Back in 2016, the brand presented its spring-summer collection, the face of which was Lightning, the main character of Final Fantasy XIII. Representatives of the brand rightly considered her an ideal example of a strong woman.

And in October 2019, a virtual collection was released, developed by Louis Vuitton specifically for the heroes of League of Legends. The clothing was designed personally by the creative director of the brand's women's line, Nicolas Ghesquiere. Moreover, as the master himself assures, he was inspired not by video games, but by last year's “Louis V" collection (amazing!).

A couple of months later, a very real collection based on the popular MOBA appeared in stores: suits and T-shirts, jackets and dresses, bags and leggings in a signature design. True, some set of a mini belt bag, earrings and gloves cost around four thousand dollars. Would you buy one for yourself?

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That's all for today. Be sure to write in the comments if we forgot to mention any brand!