ICONS, EMOJIS AND FASHION

If recent pop-cultural and fashion trends are any indication, the emojification of our once text-based society is set to become the norm.

The announcement that Apple would add more than 100 new and redesigned emoji to its next iOS update was headline news yesterday; meanwhile celebrities from Kim Kardashian West to Justin Bieber to Blac Chyna have their own emoji ranges and fashion brands are joining in on the action, with the illustrated faces appearing on several runways this year.

Apple emojis 2017

The latest label to get in the emoji game is Acne Studios, which released a collection of emoji hats, tees, and sweaters yesterday. Its icons of choice? The banana, pig nose, doughnut, microphone, hamburger, and, according to a press release, “a brown swirl of mousse.”

Before Acne Studios jumped in, there were several other fashion world emoji pioneers. Anya Hindmarch, the British accessories-cum-ready-to-wear designer, shot to fame with her eye-emoji clutches and thumbs up–adorned totes in 2015.

Acne Studios goes bananas

Her recent Fall 2016 collection evolved the theme, featuring a long vest coat with yellow fur smiley-face emoji on the pockets.

Donatella Versace, too, has endorsed the icons. For Fall 2015, she decorated her primary-color collection with a series of symbols she called emoji, though you might not recognize them from the standard iOS set. Versace’s 2016 release of its own Versace emoji keyboard is more recognizable, with the standard heart-eyed and smiling-face icons adorned with Versace Medusa crowns.

The standard heart-eyed and smiling-face icons adorned with Versace Medusa crowns

But perhaps no fashion designer loves emoji quite like Karl Lagerfeld. At Chanel, Lagerfeld has featured the symbols in two of his recent runway shows. Consider how often he changes inspirations and this is a big get for emoji.

First, for Fall 2016, the designer adorned bags with Chanel-specific emoji of the brand’s logo; its signature camellia flower; and his cat, Choupette. Models even wore diamanté bracelets made of conjoined peace-gesture emoji, while Murakami-esque smiling faces served as zipper pulls on tweed Chanel suit jackets.

Chanel Emoji Set iPhone

The theme continued into the brand’s Cuban-themed Resort 2017 collection, where denim jackets were adorned with clusters of pins, among them the emoji palm tree and avocado. This avocado, however, had interlocked double Cs where its pit would be. Now if only we could get that on our emoji keyboard .