JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure | Jujutsu Kaisen
Anime and Fashion: From Streetwear Culture to Dollar Signs
It was tough being a Western anime fan in the 90’s — kids were teased for their Dragon Ball Z silk button-down shirts and anime-focused fashions. But thanks to Gen Z for being obsessed with nostalgia over style, “vintage” versions have recently popped up on eBay and Etsy. Urban Outfitters has even capitalized on the moment, charging $70 for something that could be purchased for $16 at the flea market.
Fashion + anime is certainly not a new concept, but the style and popularity have undoubtedly evolved. As animation and manga art styles modernize, big brands have had their eye on the medium for over a decade. Bruno Bucciarati of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was the cover star of Shueisha’s UOMO magazine wearing a look from Balenciaga’s FW18 runway collection, and you can’t even mention Nana without Vivianne Westwood. The fashions have progressed from streetwear classic brands like BAPE, Supreme, and Addidas; to fashion houses like Gucci, Chanel, and Loewe.
As anime continues to solidify its place in American, mainstream pop culture, thanks in large part to the Black anime community, more collaborations between popular franchises and major fashion brands are to be expected.
Marketing to the younger demographic’s fixation on drip and droppin’ a big bag on labels, luxury brands are taking advantage of the uptick in the medium’s popularity by releasing capsule collections with limited pieces priced to the tune of thousands of dollars for a single handbag. And no shade, the Loewe + Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away” collection is one of the best I’ve seen.
So I wasn’t surprised to see an overdue fashion announcement following the explosive success of the blockbuster hit, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. However, I was shocked by the designer: Dolce & Gabbana. Yes, that D&G — the one whose designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, have an extensive history of racism, homophobia, and xenophobia.
Let’s take a pause so I can add my fashion two cents here.
A franchise like Jujutsu Kaisen gives more Balenciaga, Rick Owens, and Mason Margiela — classic cool with a twist. D&G’s signature style just doesn’t fit. It was also a missed opportunity not to hone in on D&G roses and florals, with Hanami, Nobara, and the Decay cursed technique. And fashion brands are always on the cancelation chopping block due to a lack of diversity within their companies, sexual assault allegations, questionable looks hitting the runway, and resurfaced texts, tweets, or emails.
In 2018, Gucci and Prada were both under fire for Blackface references; Burberry’s noose hoodie, Dior’s “Sauvage” cologne ad, and Alexander Wang’s assault allegations all happened in 2019; and Commes des Garsçons sent models wearing braided lace fronts straight from Tyler Perry’s private wig collection down the runway in 2020. None of these are by any means excusable but D&G is the last brand I’d think an Asian franchise would partner with.
In November 2018, D&G released three promo videos for their Shanghai “runway extravaganza” on the Chinese social media and twitter-like networking website, Weibo. Each video featured an Asian (woman) model wearing Dolce&Gabbana couture, using chopsticks to eat pizza, pasta, and cannoli.
“With Chinese folk music playing in the background, a Mandarin-speaking voiceover kicks in: “Welcome to the first episode of ‘Eating with Chopsticks’ by Dolce & Gabbana” — pronounced incorrectly on purpose in a way that mocks Chinese speech. The male voice proceeds to mansplain how to “properly” eat the dishes. “Is it too big for you?” mocks the voiceover when the woman doesn’t know what to do with the gigantic cannoli. “Let’s use these small stick-like things to eat our great pizza margherita,” he instructs in another video.” — npr.org
Weibo users immediately reacted to the ads and accused the designers of racial stereotyping, citing the depiction of Chinese women was trivialized and showed the brand’s “outdated view of China.” The videos were removed within 24 hours, but that’s not how social media works. They had already circulated the net along with the hashtag #BoycottDolce, sparking an immediate on-the-ground boycott of the brand.
But the mess didn’t stop there. Hours before the Shanghai runway show, infamous tea spiller, Diet Prada, posted an alleged Instagram DM exchange between fashion writer, Michaela Phuong, and D&G designer, Stefano Gabbana; where Gabbana stated, “China is a country of *five poop emojis*” and “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia.”
The designers claimed their accounts were hacked and denied responsibility for the messages, but not before hundreds of Chinese models and actors withdrew from the Shanghai show that was eventually canceled that same afternoon.
This was probably just another major scandal that D&G could shrug off. The saga of their problematic escapades includes glamourizing slavery, opposing gay adoption, stating Beijing was an underdeveloped city, and depicting violence against women in their advertisements. Dolce was quoted saying children born through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) are “synthetic” and that the pregnancies were “chemical offsprings and rented uteruses.” With many other instances, you can google for yourself.
And like most things that spark outrage, it seemed their recent display of ignorance was to be the straw that broke D&G’s financial back, as they were facing a future of exile from the fashion world.
Or, so most of us thought.
In 2021, D&G’s Alta Moda show in Venice was the star-studded and media-packed event of the season. The pandemic made the girls forget, and apparently, the JJK franchise and anime fans didn’t give a damn either. When the D&G + JJK teaser dropped at the top of April, the Twitter excitement was ten-fold; only for the collection to be meh at best.
Aside from the collab with a problematic D&G, franchises are teaming up with larger name brands to create collections as a cash-grab, with the real gag being the lack of innovation in the actual designs. They know the community is starved for merch and know the connected names will spark and pique interest. Last month, Jordan Brand announced their Jordan x Naruto collaboration with an official announcement via Twitter, confirming rumors that had been circulating for months; but fans were left severely disappointed. And to be frank, the amount of anime merch has become a bit oversaturated, where quantity reigns over quality.
So, yea. Fashion + anime isn’t a new concept and they’re actually the perfect pair. Knowing what we know about the anime industry and their lack of ethics and pay for the artists and creatives, despite the millions it continues to accumulate, we still eat it up. “Cancel Culture” continues to prove it’s just another volume to add to the encyclopedia of “y’all not finna do shit.” A few weeks ago, Alexander Wang held his first runway show since 2019; and again, the fashion industry couldn’t be bothered by his allegations.
Time and time again, capitalism prevails. And yes, we’ve moved past the tacky anime looks, but damn; after all these years of fandom expansion, Black appropriation, and the acceptance of nerd culture, we still don’t deserve dope pieces?
