discover gentle monster's overwatch 2 eyewear & key moments where gaming meets fashion

Gentle monster and overwatch unveil gentle tokki

In time for the release of Overwatch 2: Invasion, Gentle Monster partners with the multimedia franchise Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment to devise a wearable fashion piece that encourages gamers to experience wearing virtual objects in the real world. Named ‘GENTLE TOKKI,’ the duo materializes D.Va, one of the characters in the game, into a figure sitting on top of its fashionable eyewear complete with a blue tint on the lens and protruding horns on top of the earpieces. The goggle faithfully recreates the eyewear D.Va puts on in Overwatch 2: Invasion, and D.Va is detachable so the gamer can freely use the glasses as they are.

This is not the first time that the fashion world has broken through the gaming sphere. Luxury fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, Bulgari, and Burberry, to name a few, have appeared in the gaming world as outfits and accessories that gamers can put on their players, vehicles that cruise and drift on roads, and locations to swing by to complete a mission. In a study, around 2.7 billion people are active gamers across the world, and this might increase to up to 3.1 billion by 2027. If taken into account, the gaming and fashion collaboration then may be a well-thought-out plan.

images by Gentle Monster (unless stated)

Luxury fashion brands may be targeting the gaming world for its niche world. Other than the active players, video games create communities within their own virtual social circles. The sense of being and familiarity may be present, and this may lend its influence to the gamers seeing the gaming world as their safe space. These worlds then may become mediums and areas where the gamers can better express themselves, a way for them to project who they are and may want to be by building up, refining, and toying with the digital versions of themselves.

Luxury fashion brands may see this as an opportunity not only to engage an audience that might be far from their usual circle but to endorse their products and offer gamers new objects that they can eye, collect, or purchase. They hope to capture what could resonate with the players by means of fashion and accessories. These could have been just in the digital world through custom skins and paint for the vehicles or personalized outfits for the characters, but luxury fashion brands want something more tangible to give the gamers.

These days, they are producing the products they first designed for video games in the real world. The act furthers the interactive exchange between the gaming and fashion world while hoping to welcome a broader audience who may not be fully aware of or invested in fashion. Gentle Monster and Overwatch have done just that in their recent collaboration, and others have already crossed boundaries and blurred lines between these two contrasting worlds.

D.Va sits on top of the Gentle Tokki eyewear

The gentle tokki eyewear needs to be earned

The Gentle Tokki eyewear by Gentle Monster is inspired by D.Va’s transportation robot in Overwatch 2: Invasion. The soft case and the visual elements of the eyewear capture TOKKI’s mechanical structure, and the detachable D.Va figure adds the touch of making the gamer feel as if they were the transportation robot. Gamers who are interested in the limited-edition eyewear need to know the catch. They cannot purchase the Gentle Tokki eyewear; they have to participate in an Instagram filter challenge and win.

Another way that luxury fashion brands engage gamers is through active participation. Gentle Monster does it by inviting them to go on Instagram and use the dedicated Overwatch 2: Invasion filter the design team has prepared. Participants are asked to be creative and be their playful selves as they take videos or images of themselves with the D.Va’s head filter on. Once they have captured photos and videos using the filter and shared them through their Instagram posts and reels, they have until August 31st to tag Gentle Monster and Overwatch.

The deciding team will go through the series of entries, and whoever wins gets to receive a special edition package that contains the Gentle Tokki eyewear, boxed in custom Overwatch casing. Inside the box, the winners will also find redemption codes that they can use in the game to unlock limited-edition Gentle Tokki D.Va in-game skins and other items they can wear as they go on missions and adventures.

gamers need to participate to the Instagram filter challenge to win the wearable eyewear | more info here

Luxury fashion brands cross over to the gaming world

Other luxury fashion brands have dipped their toes into the gaming world too. Ralph Lauren changes its iconic horse logo to a piñata llama for Fortnite fans. The redesign between Ralph Lauren and Epic Games’ Fornite was for ‘The Polo Stadium Collection’, and players of Fortnite could dress up their fighters with Ralph Lauren’s digital streetwear. Balenciaga even created its own video game dubbed ‘Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow’ to showcase its 2021 collection. Here, the gamers join their hero’s journey into imagining a near future in which clothing is meant to transform over many years.

Gucci built its own luxury town in Roblox and opened its doors in the metaverse. The virtual destination and shopping space invited gamers to participate in a series of activities and tours all while giving them a glimpse at the fashion brand’s then latest virtual accessories. Burberry hopped on the Minecraft wagon as it generated its capsule collection for the game and to be used and played in the adventures. The fashion house also took it out of the virtual world as it produced these accessories and clothing in the real world.

image by Louis Vuitton

Instead of creating accessories for the game, Louis Vuitton pulled out a character from Final Fantasy to model for its SS16 advertising campaign and collection. Here, the crossover might entail the game breaking through the fashion world. Lightning, the Final Fantasy character, was being introduced to the fashion cults who might not be familiar with her. In turn, it may lure fashion followers to check and test out Final Fantasy and play the heroine in the game.

Since the advent of new social media technologies and techniques, brands have been looking for more intertwined, often-collaborative ways to promote their products while engaging the audience. There might be a risk of not pulling a niche market toward unfamiliar territories, but the fashion and gaming worlds seem to be willing to take a dive and see how it all plays out. So far, the audience may be open to fresh takes. If the positive reception continues, luxury fashion brands may just up their game and dedicate tailored bodies of work to the gaming world.