Some collaborations feel written in destiny long before they are made official. Ai Yazawa’s NANA has always carried Vivienne Westwood’s fingerprints, not as passing references but as the very scaffolding of its world. From its very first pages, NANA established itself as a defining work of 2000s Japanese pop culture. The manga, and later anime, explored the intertwined lives of two young women who share both a name and a Tokyo apartment. One is a punk-rock singer clawing her way through the city’s underground scene. The other, a hopeless romantic searching for connection. What begins as coincidence unfolds into a story about love, ambition, heartbreak, and the fragile line between independence and longing. NANA captured the turbulence of youth with a realism that resonated far beyond Japan, and fashion was its emotional language.
From Nana Osaki’s tartan blazers and corseted silhouettes to her “Armour” ring and sky-high Rocking Horse shoes, Westwood’s designs became extensions of character. They were symbols of defiance and desire, shaping how an entire generation imagined rebellion, femininity, and freedom.
Now, that quiet creative dialogue becomes something tangible. To celebrate the manga’s 25th anniversary, NANA and Vivienne Westwood have come together for a special Vivienne Westwood Edition of NANA 25th Anniversary Edition, Vol. 1. The reissue makes its debut at New York Comic Con this October, before reaching stores across the US, UK, and select Westwood boutiques later in the month. Yazawa has illustrated a new cover that reunites Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu in iconic Westwood looks, creating a visual conversation between art, identity, and fashion. Even the volume’s plaid-sprayed edges pay tribute to Westwood’s unmistakable signature, an aesthetic wink that feels deeply earned.
For longtime fans, this a symbolic closing of a creative loop that began over two decades ago, when Yazawa first translated Westwood’s anarchic romanticism into her characters’ wardrobes and emotional lives. Osaki’s fierce independence and Komatsu’s vulnerability have always existed on the same spectrum that Westwood herself embodied: the tension between rebellion and tenderness, between breaking rules and yearning to belong.
The collaboration arrives two years after Westwood’s passing, yet it feels deeply alive — a reminder that influence, when born from conviction, doesn’t fade. The Vivienne Westwood Edition stands as both tribute and continuation, proving how fashion and storytelling can share the same pulse.
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