- Anime has gone from a somewhat niche form of media to something that is widely and wildly popular around the world today.
- As a result, anime’s influence on fashion has continued to grow. What started as fun costume design for conventions first went from subculture to popular culture.
- Because anime culture is mainstream, there are even more ways to add anime fashion to your life, from subtle nods to big statement pieces, and beyond!
Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life? Anime says “yes” and proves it with rich, fun storytelling, a wide range of themes, and illustration styles that range from comical and simple to breathtaking and epically beautiful.
One of the reasons that people love anime so much is that animation gives more freedom, creativity, and room to imagine than live action simply can’t. With anime comes an opportunity to suspend disbelief, consider the “what ifs,” ponder deeper philosophical topics, or simply laugh at the zany. As it turns out, this kind of creativity is the same that fashion designers appreciate!
What happens when that creative spark goes from the screen to screen printing, though, is truly next level. Let’s explore some of the ways that the world of anime has continued to explode onto the 3D scene in real life.
From Cosplay and Subculture to Mainstream: Anime Fashion Through the Years
Anime’s rise in worldwide popularity wasn’t a foregone conclusion, especially because, both in Japan and abroad, anime wasn’t always mainstream. For many decades, anime and manga, or the comics that generally inspire most popular anime series, this form of cartoon storytelling wasn’t just seen as childish, but anywhere from strange to outright taboo.
Not Here to (Cos)Play: Anime Fashion as an Art
For many decades, anime was on the outskirts of popular culture. That didn’t stop loyal fans from building their own subculture around sharing their appreciation for an often misunderstood form. In the 1970s to 1990s, “nerd culture” was all about large conventions and inspiring other people to find their people.
The result was a huge celebratory gathering, a hype fest, and a growing spotlight on the fun (and fortune) to be found in these spaces. As a result, anime and gaming conventions became ground zero for turning even the most outrageous two-dimensional attire into wearable pieces of clothing.
From simple, home-made costumes to elaborate displays, cosplay started the ripple effect that became a tsunami of anime-inspired fashion. In fact, even the word “cosplay” is a Japanese term from 1980s anime culture that combines “costume” with “play!”
These days, cosplay is a celebrated form of wearable art, with costume creators and models alike amassing portfolios of work, commissions, and, like other artists and performers, huge numbers of followers.
The Subculture Fashion of Choice
Just like everyday attire won’t match the runways of Paris, the elaborate costumes at an anime convention are best seen as flights of fancy that can end up inspiring streetwear. By the 1990s, anime culture began to gain momentum in influencing mainstream culture worldwide.
The Internet helped, as did the rise of favorite franchises we love today. Anime series like Sailor Moon inspired hair bows and ribbons, which turned up the kawaii factor, while more cyberpunk series like Akira fed right into the nihilistic 90s and its counterculture.
The 2000s showed just how much emo and goth fashion intertwined with both of these seemingly opposing fashion statements. After all, 2005 was when Kuromi, Hello Kitty’s more punk counterpart, arrived on the scene, while characters from Death Note seemed to keep disappearing from it faster than a teenager darting into Hot Topic.
Modern Favorites
Today, that expanded appreciation for anime has created even more ways to express and integrate their fandom into everyday fun fashion, including:
- Street-ready costumes
- Printed tees of characters or anime scenes
- Crossovers of favorite series and popular clothing brands
- Iconic statement pieces, like Luffy’s straw hat or Tanjiro’s haori
Modern anime can also mean plenty of ways to pay a more subtle cosplaying homage, like printed cheer shorts or gym shorts that look like they’re straight out of Blue Lock or Haikyu!!, along with glasses frames, cosmetic touches, and hairstyles inspired by favorite characters.
The Old is New Again
Fashion is no exception to the adage that “history may not always repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Y2K styles are roaring back into popularity, after all! That resurging trend includes new spins on now-classic looks that juxtapose a cheerful, lighthearted anime with darker, more gothic themes, and vice versa.
Just as excitingly, all those classic anime that weren’t as widely known or celebrated worldwide are also getting new interest! The big difference this time around is that both anime and the original styles it inspired have gone from subculture to popular culture.
As a result, there’s even more variety to choose from to make your anime style unique to you, and it’s never a better time to start diving into the colorful world of anime. When it comes to fashion history, what role will you play in its story arc?
