Final Fantasy XIII’s main protagonist, Lightning, has become one of the lead models in popular fashion designers, Louis Vuitton, new women’s line ‘series 4’.
In a deal with Square Enix, Lightning has moved away from her comfort zone of fighting monsters and expanded into modeling, to fight the catwalk instead. The campaign has a 30 second promotional video with Lightning showcasing some of the new clothing, while jumping around and brandishing handbags like she does swords. The video even makes use of the music from the game with ‘Blinded by Light’ being used. Somehow the whole thing seems normal and Lightning looks surprisingly right at home.
Creative director at Louis Vuitton, Nicholas Ghesquière, said: “Lightning is the perfect avatar for a global, heroic woman and for a world where social networks and communications are now seamlessly woven into our life. Lightning heralds a new era of expression.”
Tetsuya Nomura, Lightnings character designer said: “The stunning new look of Lightning including her poses and character in action was fully produced by Louis Vuitton. It is a great honour that the character herself received an offer from a world leading brand.”
Lightning and Final Fantasy XIII as a whole, is not always given much praise so it was an interesting move by Square Enix and at first it seems like an odd combination but it continues to show video games movement to mainstream culture. Who knows what’s next – we might see Lara Croft shopping at Tesco or Mario get an I-phone.