The worlds of high fashion and video gaming don't often intersect, but the latest collaboration from Louis Vuitton and Final Fantasy -- two of their respective industries' biggest names -- makes us want to see more mingling between the two. The prestigious French fashion house has just named Lightning, the protagonist of the role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII and its sequel, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, as the face of its Spring-Summer 2016 ad campaign.
The news came from none other than LV creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere, who revealed his newest muse via Instagram with the caption, "Reality and fantasy become one : lightning a genuine heroine in the new @louisvuitton series 4 ad campaign."
Created in collaboration with Final Fantasy creator Square Enix's lead developer, Tetsuya Nomura, the short video features the pink-haired heroine showing off the latest clothes and accessories from Vuitton's upcoming collection.
The move is further proof of Ghesquiere's growing fascination with the digital world and its futuristic imagery. When he first revealed the collection on the catwalks of Paris last September, many fashion editors noted the influence of video game and anime characters such as Cortana from the Halo series and Maj. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell.
"He was inspired, he said, by our digital world-by Minecraft and Tron and Wong Kar Wai sci-fi-which is all well and good. But we spotted a far geekier influence that went nearly unnoticed amid the tough moto jackets and beaded slip dresses: The anime girl." wrote Vogue's Monica Kim of the latest Vuitton show.
Surprisingly, this isn't Lightning's first time modelling for a big-time fashion brand. As noted by Anime News Network, she and her fellow Final Fantasy characters donned looks for Italian fashion house Prada back in 2012.
