Old dog new swag.
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17/09/2015
In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros., top designers including Giles Deacon, Henry Holland, Marques Almeida and Zandra Rhodes reinvent Mario’s iconic dungarees.
For 30 years Mario has fought foes, battled against Bowser and rescued Princess Peach whilst comfortably kitted out in his trusty blue overalls. To mark this milestone anniversary for one of the world’s most recognisable characters, some of the most respected names in the fashion industry have been given the opportunity to give his iconic dungarees a sartorial makeover – raising money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation as they go.
From stark white and red spatters (Giles Deacon), miniature power up mushrooms (Henry Holland), a spectrum of rainbow colour (Zandra Rhodes), monochrome polka dots (Marques Almeida), to a dungaree dress (Peter Jensen), and even a quilted menagerie of characters (Gary Card), the designers were given free rein to interpret Mario’s functional fashion in their own inimitable style, turning their hand at coming up with a bold new look for the much loved character.
The one-off collaboration also marks the launch of the latest title in the Super Mario franchise, Super Mario Maker for Wii U, which puts the player entirely in control and allows them to break the conventions typical of a Super Mario platform game. Players of this Wii U exclusive, which has been launched to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., can create and design their own levels, breaking the usual Mario rules. They will also be able to share courses with friends, family and other Wii U owners across the world.
Full list of designers involved:
- Giles Deacon
- Henry Holland
- Markus Lupfer
- Zandra Rhodes
- Peter Jensen
- Marques Almeida
- Gary Card
- Charlie May
- Charlie Casely-Hayford
- Digital Fairies
Commenting on the unique brief, the designers said:
Giles Deacon
“I loved the idea of creating my own pair of Super Mario dungarees, as it’s been such an iconic game over the past few decades and wanted to put my stamp on it. We chose to keep the dungarees simple, with white working as a canvas for our embroidered ‘Spiny’ emblazoned on the front. Spiny is one of my favourite characters from playing Super Mario Bros. in the 80’s, these characterful naughty quadrupeds never fail to amuse me and are difficult to kill!”
Henry Holland
“The inspiration behind the dungarees is Mario himself and my personal memories of playing Mario non-stop as a kid! I was obsessed with finding out all the new cheats and secret levels. I spent several years of my life trying to get as many mushroom lives as I could so I covered my dungarees with the very same emblem!”
Zandra Rhodes
“My Super Mario dungaree design was inspired by the rainbow bright colours and imagery such as stars and flags that pop up in the Mario games. I particularly like Princess Peach and her bright sense of style. This led me to use my iconic ‘popstar frill’ print, which was screen printed and hand-painted in a spectrum of colours and featuring a Zandra ‘Z’ instead of Mario’s ‘M’!”
Marques Almeida
“We were so excited to be part of this project! Super Mario was a big part of our lives growing up and it was a really fun challenge to inject some M’A in to those overalls!”
Markus Lupfer
“It was important to us to keep the authenticity of the classic Super Mario dungarees but with an injection of Markus Lupfer sparkle and fun. We wanted to make the dungarees accessible and easy to wear which is why we chose sequin polka dots, and our choice of black and gunmetal sequins mean our dungarees are perfect for girls and boys alike! And of course no Markus Lupfer design would be complete without our trademark lips, featured in sequins on the back pocket of our dungarees.”
Peter Jensen
“We wanted to keep the outfit looking like dungarees, and not lose the utility feel, but at the same time do something that was obviously Peter Jensen. We thought it would be fun to work with our rabbit logo, it’s got a cartoon quality that could relate to Mario and we thought the straps would work well as ears. The finished dress turns the dungarees into a version of a dress we made for our first resort collection that we’ve always liked.”
Gary Card
“I had an immediate reaction to the Mario brief – a cloud of quilted Mario characters jumping out of every part of the dungarees, all silver, lots of detail, lots of fun, a simple idea executed to its most satisfying conclusion.
I was a huge Mario fan when I was young, always drawing him over school books and designing cool new sidekicks, now my nine year old nephew is the Mario fan, he flipped out when I told him I was working on this project. Since then I’ve shared each step of the design and making process with him, it’s been so much fun to watch him get excited with me along the way, a testament to the universal appeal of Mario.”
Charlie May
“For my project, I really wanted to clean up the design and refine the details that were already on the dungarees. All extra pockets and zips were removed to make room for one sleek elongated zip down the centre front. To contrast against the stark white canvas I inserted a jet black patch pocket on the back, corresponding with the hardware on the garment. Hems were cut to mid calf and left raw to add texture; whilst the back was removed completely. The Charlie May woman is cool, laid back and effortlessly chic, she can wear this one piece with a crisp white shirt, with trainers for the day or a sleek heel for the evening.”
Charlie Casely-Hayford
“I wanted to integrate the visual language at the core of the Casely-Hayford house into the iconic Super Mario blue dungarees. I took elements from both English Sartorialism, by creating a patchwork of traditional English cloths, and British Anarchy, by emulating details from the ‘crust punk’ style that evolved in the mid 80’s. By bringing them together, Super Mario enters a new Casely-Hayford world of Sartorial Punk.”
Digital Fairies
“Princess Peach wearing real DIGI COUTURE, mixing modern Internet attitudes in an 8-bit style. Each of the digi fairies made a badge that was personal or relevant to them and of course we had to include ‘Don’t text your ex’ which is our life motto. Each badge took roughly 60 seconds to design (just to give you a little insight into our thought process!)”
Each pair of dungarees in the 10-strong collection is being auctioned to raise money to grant wishes to seriously and terminally ill children for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Gaming fans and fashionistas eager to own an 8-bit of fashion history can visit http://www.ebay.com/usr/supermariodungarees and place their bids by Monday 24th September 2015.
— Nintendo UK News
Source: Nintendo UK.
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