Russian artist and anime illustrator Ilya Kuvshinov has created character designs for Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045, and Birthday Wonderland. Now, he is collaborating with the Japanese bookstore chain Village Vanguard for an apparel collection.
On his Twitter account, Kuvshinov said that he ‘fell in love at first sight’ with Village Vanguard, which describes itself as an ‘exciting book store’ [sic]. (Others have noted that books are actually a small percentage of the ‘playful’ store.)
‘I’ve designed clothes with anime before, but this is my first time to actually have an apparel collection,’ he added.
The collection includes a T-shirt, long-sleeve shirt, hoodie (they call it a parka, but it is clearly a hoodie), a rucksack or backpack, mask (perfect for right now), stickers, and acrylic stands.
The stickers and acrylic stands feature Kuvshinov’s illustrations found on the website, which are used to sell the other items in the collection. The illustrations lean very heavily toward the more realistic end of the anime art spectrum, so I did a double-take at the ‘fashion models’ wearing the merchandise.
In any case, the T-shirts are 5,500 yen; the hoodies are 8,800; and the masks are 2,090 yen. The order period started on Friday, and will continue until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, 28 March (Japan Time). The items will be delivered in May to mid-June.
You can see all the items at Village Vanguard’s website; or at the online store here. International sales are through Buyee, although you may have to flip through a few pages to find the items.
Kuvshinov has lived in Japan since 2015.