When The Gruffalo first rose to fame we never envisaged the influence he would one day hold over the fashion world. He has never seen himself as an inspiration to catwalk collections, yet across the Globe he has undoubtedly had an unprecedented effect on them. Remaining humble about his look and describing a regular day as having minimal effort on getting ready, he rivals Hollywood stars’ ‘just got out of bed look’. He always keeps styling to a minimum and exclusively uses natural products to enhance his look, often attributing his diet as assisting in helping keep himself look good.
As a style icon he has remained a man of mystery, very rarely giving interviews himself, yet his appearance is frequently commented on by his fans and those who fear him, giving him legend status. The Gruffalo’s look is classic and one that has never changed.
His impact on designers began as early as 2012 when Iris Van Herpen debuted her ‘monster boots’. Herpen was one of the first to use The Gruffalo as a muse generating a collection of boots with heels created from tusks, mirroring the tusks that The Gruffalo had been sporting since the beginning of his career. It is rumoured that he receives a 20% cut of the shoe collection’s profit after a lengthy court battle saw his lawsuit against Herpen successful.
From Herpen to now, The Gruffalo’s hold over fashion has continued growing. His fur is the envy of all that know him and with this in mind, designers from Michael Kors to Reiss have revealed long fur coats in a chocolate brown for their AW15 collections (the Reiss ALBA coat coming in at £350).
Exclusively photographed in the woodlands, The Gruffalo’s style is influenced by nature, laced with ferocity to give his style the extra edge. Nature has been a key thread in collections for high street retailer Topshop who named their key trend for AW ‘winter garden’, and taking tips from The Gruffalo’s style, combined fur and natural woodland influences in the collection.
The Gruffalo previously commented that his bright orange eyes were something he felt insecure about whilst growing up, but now, embracing his insecurities he has been the inspiration behind Mac’s ‘Orange’ eyeshadow that Cara Delevingne sported to her Australian premier of ‘Paper Towns’ this summer.
The Gruffalo’s style is becoming more than just a character to dress up as during book weeks at Primary school. As The Gruffalo’s presence in fashion develops expect to see jackets embellished in purple prickles and horned headbands next season. Secretly we are hoping for a H&M X Gruffalo collaboration which rivals Balmain X H&M, but we don’t know if the world is quite ready for it yet.
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