You’re Actually Going to Want to Wear This Hello Kitty Clothing Line
One mention of Hello Kitty and our brains immediately go into a total cartoonish sort of wonderland. One filled with cuddly animals, rainbows and oh-so-much pink. So when we first heard that Sanrio (the parent company of Hello Kitty) was releasing a new Hello Kitty clothing line, we immediately pictured something straight out of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” music video. It looks like we may just end up being very much mistaken.
WWD announced yesterday that the new line, which will be called Kitty’s, will be produced in collaboration with none other than Yohji Yamamoto, the super esteemed, high-end Japanese designer. Yamamoto and his team are set to work on “product development, production and branding, while Sanrio will handle character approval, store management and product sales.”
While this is definitely a unique sort of partnership, it isn’t Hello Kitty’s first foray into fashion. The brand teamed up with Forever 21 back in 2013 (pictured above) on a collection which put a fast fashionable spin on the beloved cartoons.
Yamamoto is known for gothic inspired collections dipped mostly in black. His silhouettes are typically super androgynous, modern and definitely not something you’d envision a Hello Kitty loving gal wearing. But perhaps this is what will make the collection so interesting. After all, there is definitely something to the idea that “opposites attract.” Blending Yamamoto’s dark aesthetic (see some of his designs below) with Hello Kitty’s ultra-saturated, cutesy branding just might be the balance this label needs.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any pieces from the new line to share with you quite yet, but it’s looking like you won’t have to wait long to see the results of the partnership. Two stores are set to open between today and April 2 in Japan with prices ranging between $72 for a t-shirt to $330 for dresses. Fingers crossed those pieces also make their way to the online marketplace sometime in the not-so-distant future.
Would you wear high fashion Hello Kitty clothing?
(Photo via Richard Bord/Julien M. Hekimian/Getty and Teen Vogue)