Gucci's collection featuring Doraemon for Lunar New Year

Doraemon was sent back in time from the 22nd century by Sewashi (Nobita’s great-great-grandson) to help the young boy Nobita Nobi, who Sewashi helps by improving his life. Friendly, Doraemon possesses a four-dimensional pocket from which he pulls out various secret gadgets, from a future department store.

Gucci revealed Doraemon in collaboration for the Epilogue collection, as a design on ready to wear, shoes and bags. The new Doraemon x Gucci collaboration straddles the 50th anniversary of Doraemon (2020) and the 100th anniversary of Gucci (2021).

For the Doraemon x Gucci Collection, Doraemon appears in the character’s classic blue colour, and is also playfully disguised as an ox, in tribute to the Year of the Ox. Here, blue is replaced by golden tones, and two little horns have been drawn on Doraemon’s head as part of his makeover. These two figures are featured in different poses over a GG motif, either in a repeat design, or singly, to create two new patterns for the House.

A new version of the GG Supreme canvas has been developed to feature Doraemon for the Doraemon x Gucci Collection, for use with shoes, luggage, handbags, small leather goods and hats. The archival GG House pattern is now augmented with either an all-over or a single print of Doraemon, in either blue or brown. All styles are trimmed with red leather, and the resulting look has a vintage spirit. The products are distinguished with an internal red leather tag with gold lettering detailing the ©Fujiko-Pro copyright notice.

In ready-to-wear, the Doraemon prints in blue and brown are used for a selection of men’s and women’s pieces including blousons, coats, bowling sets in silk twill, jersey tracksuit sets, sweatshirts, T-shirts, wool crew-necks, denim skirts and jeans, and a black swimming costume.

For silk and soft accessories, three carrés in different dimensions and two ribbons, all in soft and smooth silk twill, have been developed with the whimsical Doraemon print either on a mini GG or floral background. A maxi-size cosy modal silk shawl with frayed edges has the blue Doraemon all-over print, as does a bucket hat in mini GG Supreme canvas with red leather trim and double-G gold metallic hardware. A baseball cap in GG Supreme canvas has the all-over print with the brown Doraemon character in an ox disguise and a red mesh back.

For handbags there are two vintage-look styles of Ophidia given the Doraemon treatment, a small bucket bag and a mini bucket bag. These come in mini GG Supreme canvas and are enriched by a red leather trim. The mini GG Supreme print has also been used for a selection of small leather goods, featuring either an all-over Doraemon pattern or the character represented singly (in either his blue or brown incarnation). Items for men and women include pouches, an iPhone 11 cover, wallets, card cases and mini bags. The soft luggage in the GG Supreme canvas with Doraemon features totes, a backpack, a rounded shoulder bag, a camera case, a belt bag and medium duffles, all with a gold metal double-G decoration, and many with green-red-green House Web stripe shoulder straps. The hard luggage comprises a beauty case, a large and medium suitcase, and a large and small hat case.

On shoes, the Doraemon character is transformed into a patch that embellishes the signature House Web stripe on the cult classic Ace sneaker for both women and men. This style is offered in either mini GG Supreme fabric or in clean white leather, with the two alternative versions of the character. On each shoe side his pose is different, giving the models a truly unusual appearance. Playful Doraemon also appears on the chunky Rhyton sneaker, here in ivory leather with a red outsole for an added pop of colour. The newest slip-on version of the Gucci Tennis 1977 also features Doraemon in an all-over print on mini GG Supreme canvas; here the back tab and grosgrain trim are in red, echoing the look of other pieces in the collection. Red is also the colour used on the outsole and trim of the popular summery slide, which now comes with the blue Doraemon all-over pattern on mini GG Supreme canvas. Finally, the same blue print on mini GG Supreme is applied to a women’s Princetown slipper, complete with gold Gucci Horsebit detail, red leather trim and a red heart printed on the insole where the heel sits.

The Doraemon x Gucci Collection has its own dedicated packaging, which comprises green bags and matching swing tickets and cards, all featuring either the blue Doraemon or brown ‘ox’ Doraemon; the swing tickets reference the 50th anniversary of the cartoon.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)