Marc Jacobs and Valentino bring luxury to Animal Crossing with virtual outfits

Nintendo Switch’s Animal Crossing: New Horizon has become a source of entertainment for so many people during the pandemic that Nintendo has been struggling to keep up with the demand. Not only have players been turning to Animal Crossing to host virtual weddings and graduations with their friends, the game has also become a platform where players can express themselves through fashion. With the ability to change characters’ outfits in-game using QR codes, players are designing their own outfits for others to use, from Supreme to Chanel. Already, some streetwear brands have noticed and have released their own outfits for players to wear around their simulated islands in the game. Now luxury brands want in. On Sunday, Marc Jacobs posted to Instagram sharing six outfits it has brought to the game, and posted download QR codes to Instagram Stories and Twitter. Players can wear the outfits in the game and then choose to buy them online. View this post on Instagram Selling any turnips ❔ We partnered with @AnimalCrossingFashionArchive to bring six of our favorite #THEMARCJACOBS pieces to #AnimalCrossing. Head to our Stories for download codes. A post shared by Marc Jacobs (@marcjacobs) on May 2, 2020 at 2:08pm PDT Two days earlier, Valentino posted to Instagram announcing 20 new outfits for the game, taken from its Mens and Womens collections currently on sale. Valentino has been sharing behind-the-scenes “photoshoots” of the looks, and shared the QR codes for the outfits over Instagram Stories. View this post on Instagram A new kind of photoshoot comes to life by way of @kara__chung of @animalcrossingfashionarchive. The creative multihyphenate has tapped her community to collaborate on a set of 20 animated men’s and women’s Valentino outfits available for use exclusively on #AnimalCrossing #あつまれどうぶつの森 #どうぶつの森 Head to our Stories to download the clothing. A post shared by Valentino (@maisonvalentino) on May 1, 2020 at 5:08am PDT The fashion brands both partnered with @AnimalCrossingFashionArchive to create and share the new looks. Founded by visual artist and musician Kara Chung, The Animal Crossing Fashion Archive is one of several Instagram accounts to emerge for sharing players’ fashion in the game. The account now has more than 37,000 followers on Instagram. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players are transported to tropical islands where they construct their own virtual worlds and make friends with anthropomorphic animals. The cartoony game has already attracted streetwear brands like Highsnobiety and Dolls Kill, which have shared codes to outfits players can wear in the game and buy in real life, as well as esports teams like Gen.g and the Toronto Defiant which have crafted versions of their jerseys for use in the game. At the beginning of April, gaming and streetwear brand 100 Thieves made its entire apparel line available for characters to wear on Animal Crossing. View this post on Instagram The Animal Crossing Fashion Archive is a quarantine lifeline. 🙌🏼 As everyone is sheltering-in-place, an emergent movement has stemmed from Animal Crossing's ability to customize the clothes characters can wear. It’s since become the de facto place to get fits off on Instagram, and @animalcrossingfashionarchive is documenting it all. We spoke with the account's creator @kara__chung about how putting pieces into the game actually works, cease-and-desists from brands, and celebrating weddings & birthdays in the game. Hit link in bio for our full conversation. p.s. You can now flex Highsnobiety pieces within Animal Crossing. Swipe through for download codes for our in-house 'Inner Life' collection, our @colette_mon_amour project, our @lasdufallafel collaboration and our @ariesarise drop. You can also tap on the images to buy them to wear IRL. 📷: @animalcrossingfashionarchive 👕🧢codes: @kara__chung, @isaiaraneta & @jasonroberto A post shared by HIGHSNOBIETY (@highsnobiety) on Apr 8, 2020 at 3:35am PDT Video games have become much-needed sources of entertainment as people stay home on lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total spending across game hardware, software, accessories and game cards reached $1.6 billion in the month of March 2020, the highest reported for a March month since 2008, according to the NPD Group. Verizon has reported that gaming on its network has seen a 75 percent increase in gaming since the pandemic began. For that reason, many brands have been looking into the video game space, especially esports, to reach connected audiences as they stay indoors. With the biggest names in the fashion industry having to postpone runway shows and deal with a canceled Met Gala, Animal Crossing could be a good way to connect with audiences during the COVID-19 slump. Mat Piscatella, analyst for U.S. games at NPD Group, believes Animal Crossing has had a large impact on overall video games sales. “It is Animal Crossing: New Horizons that truly defined March 2020 for the video game market and the corresponding period of social distancing,” wrote Piscatella in an NPD blog post. “There is a synthesis between this game and this time in history that will leave the two forever connected in the world of video games.” Nintendo sold 1.88 million physical copies of the game in Japan, on track to become one of the country’s best-selling games. U.S. sales are slated to be released when Nintendo reports its earnings on May 7. With ongoing pandemic lockdowns across the U.S., expect more Animal Crossing brand partnerships on the horizon.

Marc Jacobs and Valentino bring luxury to Animal Crossing with virtual outfits

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