Over the previous three many years, Tetsuya Nomura has grow to be an instantly recognizable identify thanks, partly, to his contributions to the Remaining Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts sequence. Nomura isn’t simply often known as a recreation designer and director — he’s additionally well-known, and generally notorious, for his vogue designs. His works have given the gaming scene standout protagonists and ensemble casts carrying a plethora of belts and zippers. These outlandish outfits are inclined to have one thing in widespread: They’re impressed by real-life avenue vogue developments.
In 1997, with Remaining Fantasy VII, Tetsuya Nomura created a few of his most well-known character designs thus far. But it surely wasn’t till Remaining Fantasy VIII and The Bouncer, launched in 1999 and 2000 respectively, that the affect of real-life developments turned simple in Nomura’s work. One among Sq.’s lesser-known titles, The Bouncer was chock-full of eclectic character designs; the PlayStation 2 beat-’em-up stays one in every of Nomura’s standout initiatives, at the least from a vogue viewpoint. It propelled gamers into the trendy metropolis of Edge, populated by folks wearing among the strangest and hottest vogue developments of the early 2000s: high-waisted camo pants, cropped leather-based jackets, and outsized yellow jumpers scrawled over with “gothic” textual content.
In a 2000 interview with IGN about The Bouncer, Nomura disclosed his inspiration for the sport’s character designs, and the reply was surprisingly easy: “Principally, most of my concepts come from films and magazines, or I simply create them in my head.” Nomura’s mixture of real-life developments and his personal creativeness in The Bouncer ends in a few of his most visually putting work, like Volt Krueger’s notorious denim denims and Kou Leifoh’s fake tribal tattoos and loose-fitting camo pants. Remaining Fantasy VIII, which got here out the yr earlier than The Bouncer, feels equally ripped proper from the 2000s, with Zell Dincht’s high-waisted jean shorts and Rinoa Heartilly’s bike shorts and denim skirt mixture. These designs completely replicate the period when the sport was developed.
Bits and items of latest design by way of the years are present in Nomura’s work at massive, which samples from numerous totally different kinds of Japanese or worldwide vogue. Whereas utilizing these real-life inspirations, Nomura would then attempt to decide in-character outfits. In an interview with Bloomberg in 2016, Nomura said that “there are numerous methods to point out a person’s uniqueness in the true world, however inside the restricted world of a online game, clothes is without doubt one of the most necessary parts that categorical and outline a personality’s individuality.” This feels very true with the youthful members of any Remaining Fantasy ensemble forged that Nomura has had a hand in designing. Squall Leonhart is a superb instance of this: Clad in black leather-based pants and a cropped, fur-lined leather-based jacket, he appears to be like cool and rebellious at a look. It offers the participant a right away concept of what he’s like, and the way “fashionable” the world of Remaining Fantasy VIII is compared to the likes of Remaining Fantasy III or IV.
Remaining Fantasy X, launched in 2001, is one other instance of that follow set into movement, with its characters taking clear affect from Y2K-era kinds. To have a good time the twentieth anniversary of Remaining Fantasy X, Famitsu interviewed a number of key members of the event group, together with Nomura, who described the method of designing Tidus and Yuna, the twin protagonists of the sport. Tidus’ design went by way of numerous iterations, in keeping with Nomura, evolving from a plumber to the Blitzball participant followers are conversant in by incorporating extra late-’90s athletic put on parts into his outfit.
Nomura then went on to create character designs for the divisive 2003 sequel, Remaining Fantasy X-2, which noticed Yuna return alongside the spunky Al-Bhed alchemist, Rikku. The up to date designs really feel much more modern than the characters’ vogue decisions in Remaining Fantasy X. Yuna wears a lace-lined halter high and low-rise shorts, each hallmark vogue developments at that particular time limit. Rikku’s redesign stands out specifically; her apparel feels deeply impressed by numerous parts of Y2K vogue, right down to her miniskirt and calf-high cowboy boots, which really feel apt contemplating standard developments simply years earlier than the sport’s launch.
All through Nomura’s storied profession as a personality designer and artwork director, he’s inched nearer and nearer in direction of extra overt inspirations from standard vogue developments or notable designers. This included a collaboration with vogue designers like Vivienne Westwood and Hiromu Takahara for Remaining Fantasy XV. Takahara ended up creating the ultimate outfits worn by Noctis, Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis. Near the eventual launch of Remaining Fantasy XV, an official clothes line was launched by Takahara’s clothes model, Roen. This consisted of replicas of the outfits Takahara had created.
It appears like a pure development, as Nomura’s designs have remained among the most influential and recognizable designs inside the previous 20 years of gaming. Whilst vogue pivoted away from these louder, extra eye-catching designs and shifted to normcore dominating the style scene for the previous some-odd eight years, Nomura held quick onto the silhouettes and patterns of the Y2K period. He by no means moved past this particular aesthetic, and it may be keenly felt by way of the designs in Remaining Fantasy XV and to some extent Kingdom Hearts 3, particularly when factoring within the plethora of post-grunge, late-’90s plaid that has made its manner into the designs. And whereas Nomura didn’t essentially oversee the Tremendous Groupies collaboration that would seem in 2018, there are nonetheless some refined notes from the resurgence of Y2K vogue alongside the clear nods to the extra subdued stylings of normcore.
Though Nomura’s work might have felt embarrassing or out of favor for the previous couple of many years, the Y2K revival has arrived in 2021 and 2022, with Nomura’s designs coming again en vogue as soon as once more. It reveals that point is one thing of a flat circle on the subject of vogue developments, for higher or worse. Watching Nomura climate that storm and decide to what he does greatest has resulted in some fascinating work, together with probably the most stand-out designs in gaming. Whether or not you suppose his coolness is actual or not, Nomura has undoubtedly left his mark on the style.