Looking “anime” is not exactly a fashion compliment. Immediately, you think of obnoxious colors and power-dressing, probably in part thanks to the popularization of street style and people taking pictures of kogyarus like they’re the norm; try starting a non-ironic fashion blog by taking pictures of girls coming out of Hot Topic, see how that sticks. Obbviously, just as anime is not all lolis, fashion is not all Jeremy Scotts. And in the past few years the relation between the two have accelerated, especially because kids these days are increasingly interested in the two. There was this German graphic designer covering classic manga characters in high fashion logos and the guys at Human Aliens outfitting characters from Naruto and Dragon Ball in your favorite streetwear brands.

Anyway there’s another collaboration that’s ongoing, and it’s much weirder in many respects – certainly creatively. A few years back, manga artist Hirohiko Araki – a shōnen artist who has been drawing one of the longest-running manga (yet poorly exported) series, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. He loves to include western references in his writing, including a character named Gucci, which raised some flags at the Italian house. But creative director Frida Giannini took the thing in stride and invited Araki to display his works in the Tokyo’s flagship store for the brand’s anniversary. Araki also drew up an editorial for Spur Magazine showcasing Gucci’s entire collection as worn by his characters in JoJo. And this year, Araki and Gucci are taking the collection a step further, dressing up Gucci stores worldwide with designs by Araki of the Cruise 2013 collection. The image above is one you will be able to see over there, you can see another pic at The Telegraph together with the piece that inspired it. It’s a pretty ballsy move, and I salute it.

- Gnou