With the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender finally landing on Netflix, many are feeling inspired by the characters and stories. The costumes in the live-action bring all the colors of the animation to the adaption, but one stylish fan went a step further with his own homage.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an Asian-inspired world, one with phenomenal architecture, landscapes, and fashion. From the robes of the Air Nomad monks to the makeup and garbs of the Kyoshi Warriors, the outfits are amazing and fans have been cosplaying as their favorite characters from the show ever since it aired back in 2005. Cosplay is often seen as trying to get the costume and look of the characters as accurate as possible, but one fan has decided to take the characters’ wardrobe to new heights.
The multitalented stylist, photographer, director, and editor Wisdom Kaye posted videos to his Instagram @wisdm, sharing his stylistic interpretations on 16 of the characters from ATLA, including Aang, Zuko, and the much loved Avatar Kyoshi, even characters like Appa and Combustion Man! Kaye is famous for his bold stylings, with his Instagram account boasting an exceptionally impressive 2.8 million plus followers, with an even more impressive 9.4 million over on TikTok. His stylings have caught the attention of many, and he was named as one of Forbes Top Creators Fashion 50, coming in at #23.
In his Instagram post, he states that the project has taken “many months,” and honestly, that was time well spent because these looks are fire (pun intended).
The visuals from this video look amazing, as he cleverly utilizes accessories such as scarves to create the feel of bending or chunky metal bracelets for the world’s first metalbender? Heck yeah. He retains a semblance of the shape of the characters’ outfits from the animation, keeping the shoulders prominent for Fire Lord Ozai or the robes loose for Aang, but takes the drama up several notches. Honestly, I think the Fire Lord would approve.
Along with the video, whose visuals and audio I am in love with, he also posted images of each outfit, as well as where he sourced the clothes and accessories from. I desperately want them all.
If you are interested in how he created these looks and the resulting video, you can check a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot posted on YouTube. I applaud Kaye’s styling genius as well as how he shows how animation and high fashion can absolutely be blended to create something truly remarkable.
(featured image: Nickelodeon)
