Mickey Mouse makes a fashion statement

Disney characters  have been a perennial hit with children’s clothing. But the world famous Mickey Mouse has gone mainstream. Whether it’s high-street stores like Zara and H&M selling t-shirts and sweatshirts with Mickey proudly embossed on them to Gucci adding Disney magic on its loafers, sneakers, silk pajamas and bags, the mouse is everywhere.

Adults are willing to spend Rs 70,000 to a few lakhs on designer gear featuring a popular cartoon character. What is the logic? Well, it is the year of the mouse and Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year by paying home to Mickey.

Designer Anand Bhushan doesn’t think it’s that crazy to indulge your sense of style from childhood. “Mickey has happy childhood connotations for a generation that has now become adults. Revisiting nostalgia to a place that was full of joy and fantasy compared to the climate of panic and hysteria we live in really has no price attached. That why big giants like Zara and Gucci have has used this as an emotional selling point to make profit,” explains Anand.

Disney is a huge multiverse of characters that everyone relates with — be it a boomer, millennial or gen Z — no one has been saved from the charms of its most popular character Mickey Mouse.

“With the passage of time, the umbrella of branded Mickey and Minnie merchandise has only cemented and expanded. It comes as no surprise that multiple fashion brands are looking to tap this unconditional love for the affable rodent and disrupt the market with their offerings. Be it the recently launched Gucci X Mickey collaboration providing the Disney-reimagined cult Marmont bag or Marc Jacob’s Mickey-inspired street wear range — fashion brands are embracing youth culture and giving a chance to let people relive their childhood,” says designer Shivan Bhatia of the brand SHIVAN & NARRESH.

Luxury brands like Moschino, Givenchy, and Kenzo too are interestingly incorporating elements from the universe of Disney into their creations, points out Shivan. Zara and H&M have previously introduced capsule collections around these characters.