Toons Get Trendy AWS
TOC S POTLIGHT
I
Toons Get Trendy
Fashion high on the agenda at Brand Licensing Europe as animation-inspired couture is paying off for licensors and retailers of all shapes and sizes. By Karen Yossman.
t’s not uncommon to see models and fashion reporters elbowing each other out of the way to get a selfie with one celebrity or another at London Fashion Week, the British capital’s semi-annual celebration of all things style. It’s less common that the celebrity in question is Minnie Mouse. But at last September’s launch of Minnie: Style Icon, an exhibition exploring the Disney character’s influence on fashion and pop culture, even the fanciest of fashionistas couldn’t resist posing for a snap with the overgrown mouse while, around them, wait staff circulated with canapés decorated with Minnie’s trademark polka dots and bows. The event, which was hosted by Disney, marked the growing allegiance between two, outwardly, very unlikely industries: animation and fashion — an alliance that presents a new world of opportunities for licensors of animated properties gathering for the 18th annual Brand Licensing Europe show, set for Oct. 11-13 in London. Those who know their fashion history might argue that designers have always taken inspiration from the animated world. French designer Jean-Charles de Castelabajac was emblazoning sweaters with Mickey Mouse back in the 1980s, but the difference now is that savvy animation studios are much more active in seeking out such collaborations, having realized that not only is there a proven adult audience for this kind of merchandise — especially among today’s nostalgia-obsessed Millennials — but strategic brand collaborations can themselves be harnessed as part of the marketing drives for upcoming feature releases.
If the shoe fits …
It’s a tactic Disney has certainly used successfully for a number of years to ensure coverage in fashion magazines that wouldn’t otherwise cover what they consider to be “kids’ films.” In 2012, for example, to celebrate the release of Cinderella on Diamond Edition Bluray, the studio commissioned renowned shoemaker Christian Louboutin to create a pair of crystal-encrusted high heels inspired by the film’s legendary glass slippers. Although they were less prepared for the blockbuster sucwww.animationmagazine.net
Fashion brand Hype offered a high-end collection of items inspired by SpongeBob SquarePants
cess of Frozen in 2013, a collaboration with Comme Des Garçons was quickly lined up for the following December to cement the film as an evergreen holiday staple. And, earlier this year, Californian designer Trina Turk created a Finding Dory-themed beachwear collection ahead of the film’s theatrical release. Now other studios are getting in on the act. This past summer alone has seen DreamWorks tap cosmetics brand MAC and New York designer Betsey Johnson to create makeup and accessory collections themed around the upcoming Trolls movie while, in July, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment partnered with achingly cool Parisian department store Colette for a capsule collection inspired by The Secret Life of Pets that featured $45 cellphone cases and $67 T-shirts. “There’s absolutely a trend towards animated characters on adult clothing,” says Mark Kingston, senior VP of Pan European Licensing at Viacom International Media Networks, whose roster includes long-beloved properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Ren & Stimpy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “As each year passes and more teenagers grow into adulthood, they’re bringing their favorite characters, particularly the animated ones, with them and looking for them on adult ap-
48
parel.” In recent years VIMN has worked with brands such as Moschino, Jeremy Scott, Beatrix Ong, and streetwear brand Kith, who in September debuted a Rugrats-inspired collection at New York Fashion Week. VIMN is now working on a year-long campaign, set to launch in 2017, called SpongeBob Gold, which will kick off with “several fashion collaborations with big-name, as well as up and coming, designers,” Kingston says. These will later be followed with mid- and mass-market apparel collections.
A glowing ‘halo’
This type of strategic high-to-low brand partnership is common in licensing and works by launching so-called “halo” collections with aspirational brands to carefully position or re-vitalize an animated character, which then attract mass-market retailers that will sell a larger volume at a more affordable price point. When Moschino sent SpongeBob SquarePants down the runway at Milan Fashion Week in 2014, with models wearing yellow sweater dresses and purses featuring the madcap character’s face, retailers such as Forever21 and H&M quickly followed suit with Spongebob T-shirts and even sneakers. “We absolutenovember 16
page
TOC S POTLIGHT
Doc Martens’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles footwear shows how fashion taps into the popularity of animation.
ly saw a ripple effect from our collaboration with Moschino,” Kingston says. Similarly, last year, the Italian fashion house collaborated with Cartoon Network on a Powerpuff Girls line that included $550 sweaters and $450 purses. Six months later, Hot Topic released a similar selection of products featuring Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup at a fraction of the price. For the designers, working with globally recognized characters such as SpongeBob, Looney Toons or Disney Princesses represents an opportunity to reach new audiences. “These (characters) are sort of keys into getting an immediate response out of people because they’re icons, so they’re sort of embedded in the public consciousness,” says november 16
next page
British designer Philip Colbert, whose indie brand Rodnik has just launched a Mickey Mouse-inspired collection. Meanwhile, for behemoths such as Disney, it’s an opportunity to collaborate with a hip, young brand that “can re-engage the assets with a contemporary audience,” says Colbert. And there are other, more practical, reasons why licensing animated characters can be especially lucrative. “A studio can license an animated character without having to worry about likeness rights,” says Jeff Trexler, an attorney and associate director at the Fashion Law Institute. “An animated character also tends not
49
to summon associations outside the character itself —actors play multiple roles and have their own personal brands.” But ultimately, perhaps the most simply reason that animation and fashion go so naturally together is because animators and designers are driven by the same creative impulse. “These characters also represent a fun and a fantasy world which in my mind is very much what the spirit of creativity and art is,” says Colbert. “I think the cartoon-fashion tie-up is a quite natural, fun, pop kind of vibe.” [ www.animationmagazine.net
I
Toons Get Trendy
Fashion high on the agenda at Brand Licensing Europe as animation-inspired couture is paying off for licensors and retailers of all shapes and sizes. By Karen Yossman.
t’s not uncommon to see models and fashion reporters elbowing each other out of the way to get a selfie with one celebrity or another at London Fashion Week, the British capital’s semi-annual celebration of all things style. It’s less common that the celebrity in question is Minnie Mouse. But at last September’s launch of Minnie: Style Icon, an exhibition exploring the Disney character’s influence on fashion and pop culture, even the fanciest of fashionistas couldn’t resist posing for a snap with the overgrown mouse while, around them, wait staff circulated with canapés decorated with Minnie’s trademark polka dots and bows. The event, which was hosted by Disney, marked the growing allegiance between two, outwardly, very unlikely industries: animation and fashion — an alliance that presents a new world of opportunities for licensors of animated properties gathering for the 18th annual Brand Licensing Europe show, set for Oct. 11-13 in London. Those who know their fashion history might argue that designers have always taken inspiration from the animated world. French designer Jean-Charles de Castelabajac was emblazoning sweaters with Mickey Mouse back in the 1980s, but the difference now is that savvy animation studios are much more active in seeking out such collaborations, having realized that not only is there a proven adult audience for this kind of merchandise — especially among today’s nostalgia-obsessed Millennials — but strategic brand collaborations can themselves be harnessed as part of the marketing drives for upcoming feature releases.
If the shoe fits …
It’s a tactic Disney has certainly used successfully for a number of years to ensure coverage in fashion magazines that wouldn’t otherwise cover what they consider to be “kids’ films.” In 2012, for example, to celebrate the release of Cinderella on Diamond Edition Bluray, the studio commissioned renowned shoemaker Christian Louboutin to create a pair of crystal-encrusted high heels inspired by the film’s legendary glass slippers. Although they were less prepared for the blockbuster sucwww.animationmagazine.net
Fashion brand Hype offered a high-end collection of items inspired by SpongeBob SquarePants
cess of Frozen in 2013, a collaboration with Comme Des Garçons was quickly lined up for the following December to cement the film as an evergreen holiday staple. And, earlier this year, Californian designer Trina Turk created a Finding Dory-themed beachwear collection ahead of the film’s theatrical release. Now other studios are getting in on the act. This past summer alone has seen DreamWorks tap cosmetics brand MAC and New York designer Betsey Johnson to create makeup and accessory collections themed around the upcoming Trolls movie while, in July, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment partnered with achingly cool Parisian department store Colette for a capsule collection inspired by The Secret Life of Pets that featured $45 cellphone cases and $67 T-shirts. “There’s absolutely a trend towards animated characters on adult clothing,” says Mark Kingston, senior VP of Pan European Licensing at Viacom International Media Networks, whose roster includes long-beloved properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Ren & Stimpy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “As each year passes and more teenagers grow into adulthood, they’re bringing their favorite characters, particularly the animated ones, with them and looking for them on adult ap-
48
parel.” In recent years VIMN has worked with brands such as Moschino, Jeremy Scott, Beatrix Ong, and streetwear brand Kith, who in September debuted a Rugrats-inspired collection at New York Fashion Week. VIMN is now working on a year-long campaign, set to launch in 2017, called SpongeBob Gold, which will kick off with “several fashion collaborations with big-name, as well as up and coming, designers,” Kingston says. These will later be followed with mid- and mass-market apparel collections.
A glowing ‘halo’
This type of strategic high-to-low brand partnership is common in licensing and works by launching so-called “halo” collections with aspirational brands to carefully position or re-vitalize an animated character, which then attract mass-market retailers that will sell a larger volume at a more affordable price point. When Moschino sent SpongeBob SquarePants down the runway at Milan Fashion Week in 2014, with models wearing yellow sweater dresses and purses featuring the madcap character’s face, retailers such as Forever21 and H&M quickly followed suit with Spongebob T-shirts and even sneakers. “We absolutenovember 16
page
TOC S POTLIGHT
Doc Martens’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles footwear shows how fashion taps into the popularity of animation.
ly saw a ripple effect from our collaboration with Moschino,” Kingston says. Similarly, last year, the Italian fashion house collaborated with Cartoon Network on a Powerpuff Girls line that included $550 sweaters and $450 purses. Six months later, Hot Topic released a similar selection of products featuring Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup at a fraction of the price. For the designers, working with globally recognized characters such as SpongeBob, Looney Toons or Disney Princesses represents an opportunity to reach new audiences. “These (characters) are sort of keys into getting an immediate response out of people because they’re icons, so they’re sort of embedded in the public consciousness,” says november 16
next page
British designer Philip Colbert, whose indie brand Rodnik has just launched a Mickey Mouse-inspired collection. Meanwhile, for behemoths such as Disney, it’s an opportunity to collaborate with a hip, young brand that “can re-engage the assets with a contemporary audience,” says Colbert. And there are other, more practical, reasons why licensing animated characters can be especially lucrative. “A studio can license an animated character without having to worry about likeness rights,” says Jeff Trexler, an attorney and associate director at the Fashion Law Institute. “An animated character also tends not
49
to summon associations outside the character itself —actors play multiple roles and have their own personal brands.” But ultimately, perhaps the most simply reason that animation and fashion go so naturally together is because animators and designers are driven by the same creative impulse. “These characters also represent a fun and a fantasy world which in my mind is very much what the spirit of creativity and art is,” says Colbert. “I think the cartoon-fashion tie-up is a quite natural, fun, pop kind of vibe.” [ www.animationmagazine.net
