Quite a few fashion houses and brands jumped on the videogame bandwagon in the last few years, realising that they can be a great way to reach out to younger consumers while creating unique environments where collections can be presented and campaigns launched.
Anrealage also joined the trend: after creating an exclusive trench coat for Nintendo's "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" in collaboration with Vogue Japan last year, the Japanese brand led by Kunihiko Morinaga announced at the end of July a limited edition capsule featuring Nintendo's Super Mario inspired products, including T-shirts and a mobile phone cover.
The main inspiration point for this capsule wasn't Super Mario, though, but geometry (Morinaga has got a soft spot for this discipline) and in particular the Question Mark cube.
This is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable videogame designs: a staple of the Super Mario universe, the Question Mark cube is one of the most common block that you can spot in the Super Mario games. Such cubes can usually be seen floating in midair and, when hit, they reveal coins, Super Mushrooms or Fire Flowers.
Yet, rather than coming up with some plain prints as other designers may have done in his place, Morinaga put the trademark Anrealage's geometricaly conceptual spin on his designs for Nintendo.
So while the phone covers incorporate real dried flowers (View this photo), a material Morinaga has been using often in Anrealage's Anever line of jewellery recently, the long sleeve T-shirt is based on Anrealage's classic cube T-shirt from the S/S 09 collection (three years ago, Anrealage also released a limited collection for Amazon with some pieces based on this collection). Thanks to the designer's conceptual pattern for this item, the T-shirt can be retransformed into the iconic Super Mario Question Mark block.
Moving from his experiments with lights and shadows and retroreflective technlogy Morinaga also created a T-shirt printed with various items that appear from the block.
So, if you take a flash shot with your smartphone, the Super Star, Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, or coin will appear as if they were emerging from the yellow Question Mark cube printed on this otherwise minimalist looking shirt.
The items will be available from Anrealage's Shibuya Parco store or from the brand's online store from September 2021 and they are the final proof that videogames do not inspire just basic garments with prints of assorted heroes and heroines dedicated to videogame fans, but these designs can be fun and conceptual as well.
Now, any chance of having an Anrealage collection and presentation inspired by Nintendo's "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles" maybe?
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