In the Stitch

‘NANA made me realise how much clothes can say about you. It made me want pieces people would recognise as mine.’

 I’ve always been into anime and manga, but NANA was the first one that properly grabbed me. Up until then I’d watched shows about magical girls, Cardcaptor Sakura, Mermaid Melody. It’s where my love for fashion and design first blossomed, but NANA was different, it was an anime that felt real. As a young teen the story resonated with me, it made me think about my future, about the kind of girl I wanted to be. Everything from the anime stuck with me: the story, music, friendships, heartbreak, and of course the fashion. It all felt so authentic, and it was the first time I picked up on the name Vivienne Westwood.

I was a Hachi girl first and foremost. Her style spoke to me; soft, feminine, full of pearls and sweetness. Then an idea struck. I wanted to have a wardrobe that spoke to me as much as the characters in this show did. I wanted outfits that actually told people something about myself. Both Nanas had outfits that felt so perfectly placed, so intentional, you could tell immediately what kind of person they were. That really changed how I think about fashion. I wanted pieces people would recognise as mine. That’s just a small part of the power of NANA I guess. It makes you want to reflect, to curate yourself.

Here we are, some years down the line, celebrating NANA in its 25th anniversary. When the Vivienne Westwood X NANA collab was announced, I knew I had to get something. I was refreshing pages well in advance like some sort of feral fashion gremlin, fully locked in. I had the page open for a full week before the drop date (13th November 2025) and when the products were released I managed to snag the Nana Osaki Orb Pendant. I was ecstatic to add this to my VW collection. It felt like a full circle moment, teenage me would’ve been screaming her heart out. I also wanted the collab manga edition, but unfortunately when I went back for it, it was sold out. It took about 25 minutes for most of the collection to become completely unavailable, to a lot of fans’ disappointment.

The drop itself was chaotic to say the least. There was no solid launch time, unclear information, and the collection ended up releasing earlier than stated, on the evening of November 12th around 23:00 GMT. From what I could see there were no limits placed on the items, and a lot of them were already being resold by scalpers for inflated prices. The rollout was messy. By the time actual fans got onto the page, the majority of things were sold out. This left a lot of people trying their luck with in-store stock, but still I’m sure many went without, which is extremely unfortunate.

I’ve been seeing so much discourse regarding the items in the collection online. While I wholeheartedly agree that the release could have been handled a lot better, a lot of the negativity I’ve been reading surrounding the collection, in this girl’s humble opinion, is a load of crap. I’ve read people saying the pieces don’t relate to the anime, that the collection felt like a rushed money grab.

I wholeheartedly disagree.

I think the NANA collection absolutely reflects Ai Yazawa’s work, especially if you understand the duality of the characters and you actually know the pieces already in Westwood’s collection. A lot of the discourse online surrounding the drop was that the pieces were just ‘rebranded VW classics,’ but isn’t that the point? The accessories and fashion showcased in both the NANA anime and manga were real Vivienne Westwood pieces that already existed and are still purchasable today, so it’s completely intentional that the collab carried a lot of the classic designs. That’s part of the show’s identity and the characters’ identity too.

I personally loved that they remixed existing VW staples into Hachi-coded warm golds and Nana-coded platinum and black. That’s exactly what the girls would’ve worn. The only critique I read and fully agreed with was Shin’s classic orb lighter (a revival of the original VW one) being re-released in gold when it is clearly showcased as silver in the anime. I get why people were frustrated. But after so many years of silence, seeing a NANA collab at all felt like a love letter to the fans.

To me the collection was thoughtful, nostalgic and beautifully designed. Maybe not perfect, but definitely special. And honestly, I’m just grateful that something I loved so fiercely as a teenager, something that shaped my love for fashion, is being celebrated again.

Sew you later,

The Stitcher