Remember back in 2012 when Lightning made an appearance in the Japanese men’s fashion mag Arena Homme Plus modeling Prada? Well it seems she’s at it again. Louis Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere announced last week on Instagram that Final Fantasy’s Lightning is the face of their new SS16 collection “Series 4.”
“Reality and fantasy become one: lightning a genuine heroine in the new @louisvuitton series 4 ad campaign.” – Nicolas Ghesquiere
Along with some amazing pictures, Ghesquiere also shared a video with us:
I, for one, am always incredibly excited when two of my passions are combined. I’ve been a big fan of Final Fantasy XIII since it released in 2010. I played it on the Xbox 360 and dedicated myself to earning every single achievement in the game. Which I did! It wasn’t easy. But I spent time doing it because I loved the world, I loved the challenge, but I loved Lightning most of all. So to see her in an ad campaign wearing clothes that I also love is a dream come true. I mean, I’ve written before about how gaming inspired my love or fashion. So I’m pretty sure that they did this campaign specifically for me. But no, not just for me. For everyone out there who likes a little bit of fashion in their gaming. Now they can have some gaming within their love of fashion as well.
But I’ve already seen some backlash over Louis Vuitton’s SS16 campaign. Is this the future of modeling? I doubt it. It seems like Lightning was chosen because of her feminine heroic nature. Not because she can be made to pose exactly how they please. Would anyone really pay attention to this campaign if it was a random computer-generated character instead of Lightning? Again, I doubt it. It’s not taking jobs away. Calm down.
Is this out of character for Lightning? Maybe. Well, yes. You probably wouldn’t see Lightning pull out a cute purse rather than her sword in a Final Fantasy game. But isn’t that what makes this fun? Thanks to Tetsuya Nomura and Nicolas Ghesquiere, we get to see a different side to Lightning. A side that’s just a little more girly. And I’m OK with that, because I know she’d drop her purse and grab her sword faster than anyone else could.
It may be true that fans of Louis Vuitton and Final Fantasy do not always intersect, but this campaign definitely has my attention. I mean, I would LOVE to get my hands on this pink jacket AND the tiara. Wouldn’t you?
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This is pretty cool especially in a time when there is a lot of talk about visibility of female characters in gaming. I also like that of these images there’s nothing overtly sexual, which also seems to be a problem with female characters. It’s a win!
I thought this was photoshopped, I didn’t realise it was a real thing haha
Haha! Yeah it’s pretty awesome how they did it 😀
Agreed, very cool!
😀