In yesterday's post we looked at an exhibition featuring art influenced by video games. For decades fashion has been inspired by iconic video game characters or elements borrowed from famous games, sprite graphics and even glitches.
There have been both fashion and accessory designers who moved from 8-bit graphics also for their fashion runway set designs (remember Anya Hindmarch's colourful illuminated cubes by set designer Stuart Nunn of INCA Productions forming a pixelated backdrop for the designer's A/W 2016 collection? View this photo) or for their jewelry collections (design duo mike and maaike that, fifteen years ago, created a pixelated collection by downloading low-res images of the world's finest jewelry and printing them on leather).
The trend may come back next Spring: Jonathan Anderson included in his S/S 23 collection for Loewe pixelated and glitched tops and trousers forming optical illusions capable of turning real human bodies into digital ones.
Luxury versions of humorous items you may find on the Internet or from party supplies stores (View this photo), Anderson's designs for next season are almost simple when compared to previous creations inspired by 8-bit moods including Anrealage's A/W 2011-12 collection, that included pixel-patterned prints (View this photo) and pumps with a blocky, cubic heel (View this photo). Fashion nerds may remember that this collection was accompanied by a live soundtrack that recreated on piano early video games music.
Talking about early video games, Anderson's runway show for his own brand took place in September in London in a Soho institution, the Las Vegas Arcade, located next to the designer's flagship boutique. In that case video games created a nostalgic colour-filled environment, a sort of maze of fluorescent lights that lit up the runway, but there were also references to technology with two long dresses with oversized computer keys with the letters JWA and a halterneck top made out of old computer keys.
The latter wasn't a new solution if we remember how as early as 2004 Portuguese designer João Sabino, produced handbags out of hundreds of computer keys (View this photo), but proves that these materials can be incorporated in different items and upcycled in fun ways.
Like these trends? Well, you can always come up with your own 8-bit accessory recycling some plastic fusible beads (the cheapest way to come up with pixellated designs...) that you may have around the house (if you have kids, you probably have a few packets with mismatched colours hiding in some drawers...). And, after a furious session of gaming or an even more furious quarrel in which your keyboard may end up being an indirect casualty, don't forget to pick up the pieces and save them. They will definitely come in handy at some point for your personal interpretation of the computer key trend.
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