Tagged: Lifestyle

Nintenclothes are back in the spotlight with a new collection, this time from Bloomingdale’s. First up, forgive me for being a dude who doesn’t pay more than $25 for a pair of pants when I say wow, these prices: $45 for a fannypack, $50 for an inflatable pool ring, and $200 for a short sleeved shirt. Even if I loved these designs I’d have to stick with appreciating them from afar, and that leads to my bigger concern.

Dana pointed out this collection to me and we both agreed there’s something low-rent about these high-end items. “It’s just pixels and shit” were her exact words, and I can’t deny it on most of these 82 items. I’ll give it to ‘em, they sure made a lot of stuff but some of these designs are barely on par with the fare you can find at Walmart: a pixel heart with the words “Game On” above it in script font, a shirt that simply says “Nice Play” with a heart in place of the ‘A’, and a sweatshirt with rainbow stripes on either side of the word “SUPER”.

P.S. If you bought all three of those you’d be at $385.

Elsewhere there are tops, bottoms, and accessories that barely evoke the concept of graphic design, nevermind a connection to video games or even Nintendo. Rainbow stripes, dual tone stripes, checkerboards, and polka dot patterns are lumped in here as “gamer wear” and priced up to $200. It isn’t all bad though, there a few items I really dig the look of.

Most of the short sleeved shirt patterns are simple but appreciable, with the Donkey Kong design being the most elaborate. These mushroom swim trunks are also pretty good and the black-and-white “camo” version is frantic and rad. The one thing I might actually have bought is this assortment of Sugarfina candies in Mario Cloud, Yoshi Egg, and Strawberry Mushroom varieties. Unfortunately they’re either sold out or include one of the fun animal-derived ingredients that I avoid.

These aren’t so bad… still, it’d be $282.

Personally, of all the unexpected fashion crossovers we’ve seen so far it was Uniqlo that hit the best balance of design and price. Take a look at my last roundup and let us know which was your favorite or if there’s a Bloomingdale’s piece you’re already adding to cart.

Now more than ever, Nintendo isn’t just in the business of making video games, it’s a b-r-a-n-d brand, “lifestyle” style. Sure, we had breakfast cereals and Happy Meal toys in the 80’s but even my wildest, sugar-addled hallucinations couldn’t have dreamed up $500 Super Mario cosmetics, Mario Kart bodysuits, Metroid cropped belly shirts or a Game Boy clutch. But that’s the world we find ourselves in, one where Nintendo is reaching just as far into fashion and cosmetics as it does into die-cast cars and action figures.

There’s loads to be said about what this all means to society and our acceptance of brands in place of individual personality but I’ll leave that to people much smarter than me. Instead I’m just going to post another gallery of Nintendo products from Forever 21 and Shu Uemura that I personally thought inconceivable until I saw them. Check it out below and look back on our last round of Nintendo fashions from LeSportsac and Uniqlo earlier in the year.

The guy stuff is so boring. Give me pixel patterns! If I were a 12-year-old girl I’d love that jacket too.

The checked sleeves on the Mario Kart shirts are the best part.

I’m out of my depth here but the patterns are awesome and I love the stamped eye shadow cakes!

This is the pièce de résistance! A $475 empty box. And you thought action figure carrying cases were extreme.