The couture of Final Fantasy consists of characters with bountiful belt buckles who are overly zealous about zippers. This is what we’re accustomed to. The recent Final Fantasy XIII and Prada crossover however has gained a lot of buzz for how strange it is. The creative minds behind the project have some interesting things to say on the idea,

Max Pearmain, Editor of Arena Homme+, said: “Our Spring issue focuses on a world of direction and escapism, and having a visually stunning video game franchise such as Final Fantasy work alongside us and a leading fashion brand like Prada to create something so unique is incredible.

“I’ve always been interested by the power of video games and their place in society, and the amount of work that’s gone into this project blows my mind. We’re incredibly pleased with the result.”

There’s even a quote from FF head honcho Yoshinori Kitase: “The Final Fantasy series is known for its creativity and innovation; so working with Prada, a renowned fashion house with such beautiful clothing, was a very exciting opportunity. The images we have been able to create together are vibrant and unique.”

It might be strange at first but seeing two highly polished brands crossover is not all that surprising. Videogames are a part of a larger culture now and that includes high fashion. Admittedly seeing glassy doll-like CGI faces pose in human clothing is creepy but how is that weird compared to runway attire or creepily realistic robots?

Instead the crossover provides more thought into the fashion surrounding videogames. What does the attire tell us about the characters? Do they own a Sunday’s best that isn’t mean for dragon slaying? From there we can learn more about the game, culture and ourselves, instead of simply asking “Are you really going to wear that?”

[via Eurogamer]