Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2009

Anyone who has ever set foot in a gift shop at Disneyland may have good reason to doubt that a Donald Duck T-shirt could ever be considered trendy. However, a series of new collaborations between the animation giant and Japanese brands have sent hipsters scrambling to get their Mickey fashion fixes. Uniqlo’s T-shirt brand UT (6-10-8 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku; 03-5468-7313) recently paired up with Disney to bring out a line of T-shirts and sweatshirts that makes the Mouse Kingdom seem somewhat less, well, cartoony. Bambi and Thumper appear as silver silhouettes on a black long-sleeved T-shirt, Minnie’s trademark red bow is multiplied until it becomes an abstract pattern, and Snow White is shown in a graphic taken from a rough sketch by Walt Disney himself, looking more goth than kawaii. Meanwhile, boutique brand Frapbois (http://tinyurl.com/frapbois), a long-time favorite with Harajuku hipsters, has released a series of 100 percent Japanese cotton T-shirts featuring a mischievous Mickey, circa 1938, sporting a pair of ultra-modern sneakers. With Samantha Thavasa, Beams, United Arrows and other brands also getting in on the act, fashion-conscious Disney fans can look forward to a stylish future.