My friend Ali is one of those Fashion Girls who is, let’s just say, highly particular. Her grocery store tote is an Erdem floral shopping sack. She insists on a wine-red gel manicure at all times because “it goes with everything but doesn’t look like nothing.” Once at a party, I introduced her to that guy from The Bear, and she wouldn’t even flirt because “he’s probably not that intellectual.” And although Ali likely dreams in black-and-white Criterion Collection movies, she is also really into Minnie Mouse—so much so that sometimes after the couture shows in Paris, which she must attend for work, Ali extends her trip for precisely 24 hours and hops the bus to Euro Disney so she can hang out with Cinderella, Tiana, and the rest of the pretend princess crew. Ali, you see, is a Disney Adult.
Like Swifties and NFL superfans, Disney Adults are grown-ups with an outsize attachment to the Magic Kingdom and its cartoon residents. They have Mickey Mouse waffle makers from Williams Sonoma. They have Tinkerbell wind chimes from Target. They have existential crises in Rolling Stone and “ban them all” threads on Reddit. Lately, they have even gotten some damn good clothes. In fact, as cool-girl brands like Ganni and celebrity mega-stylists like Harry Lambert begin embracing Disney style as their own, the idea that “Disney Adults” are socially stunted rubes might finally be melting like Queen Elsa’s ice jags.
Many of today’s official Disney clothes might actually be (ugh, sorry) chic.
Zara
To be fair, fashion has long had a soft spot for Disney iconography, especially Mickey Mouse. The industry loves an inside-out moment, and embracing Disney’s most famous—and famously earnest —mascot offers an opportunity to imbue the 97-year-old cartoon rodent with some real edge. In 2009, Jeremy Scott created Mickey-inspired army helmets for his models, along with a print that merged Disney’s cherry-red palette with Scott’s own face wearing camo-style war paint. In 2013, Comme des Garçons made boiled-wool Mickey Mouse baseball hats; that same year, Marc Jacobs sent a model down his catwalk in a teeny, cropped cashmere cardigan with Mickey embroidered on the front. (There was far more exposed midriff than Disney graphics.) Gucci did black purses with Mickey Mouse ears, too, along with a Ducktails print on its logo tote that was, frankly, holy.
All this was winky-wink stuff, as if fashion junkies were hell-bent on proclaiming, “I’m not a real Disney Adult, I’m a cool Disney Adult!” Its apex came in 2024, when Kylie Jenner bibbity-boppityp-boo-ed herself to Euro Disney to walk in Coperni’s Disney-themed fashion show, where heels boasted giant floppy mouse ears and bustier tops were embellished with Princess Aurora’s crown. At the time, Coperni co-designer Arnaud Vaillant admitted backstage that the project had its challenges: “You can’t imagine all the approvals we had to go through… but we grew up with such a love of the Disney parks and stories. We believe so much in the magic and the transformation of Disney’s stories. We had to do it.”
Re Done
Coperni’s timing proved, well, enchanted. The past 12 months marked a year of kid stuff for gleeful grown-ups. As Labubus became in-demand accessories and animated fare like Flow, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and Disney’s own Inside Out 2 crossed into mainstream adult territory, childlike escapism and “inner child work” made earnestness not just palatable for the mainstream, but also cool (and sellable) for fashion’s in crowd. Louis Vuitton brought back its grin-and-wear-it Murakami cherry blossom print. Burberry made teddy bears for its blockbuster Bloomingdale’s collaboration. And suddenly, something in the Disney-verse clicked, and the merch that was once seen as kitschy beyond repair suddenly became… kind of awesome?
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It began with Zara’s ongoing collaboration with celebrity stylist and creative director Harry Lambert, an aloof arbiter of cool for Gucci and Miu Miu with clients like Harry Styles and Emma Corrin. This September, Lambert released a collaboration with the Spanish retailer, including a princess-pink bow dress, vintage-looking tee, and brushed-knit Mickey vest. At the same time, Ganni dropped a Daisy Duck collaboration modeled by Prada muse Lindsey Wixson, and Coach cannot keep its Pluto-knit cardigans in stock.
What is truly remarkable is how Disney’s own merch has gone from “corny aunt at Thanksgiving” to “TikTok cousin who already has an invite to Anna Sui’s next show.” Witness the Sporty & Rich-inspired revamp of the 1980s Mickey sweatshirt, the pop-of-red trend in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice cardigan, and the Magic Kingdom’s take on the ironically embroidered boat-and-tote. Yes, there is still plenty of kitschy crap in the system. But the effort, and the shift, are noticeable.
Ganni
A brief survey of fashion babes reveals that being a “Disney Adult” is also no longer a source of shame. Model Lily Aldridge admitted she was “absolutely” a massive Mickey Mouse fan backstage at the Victoria’s Secret show this year—she even did a podcast about her Magic Kingdom hacks—while designer Olivier Roustieg and model Gigi Hadid were spotted at Euro Disney. (Gigi even wore Disneyland merch from her California home state.)
As for my friend Ali, she has one wish for upcoming Disney merch: Better shoes. “I had to call in a favor at Christian Louboutin to get yellow heels that look like Minnie’s,” she sighed. “Try explaining, in French, why you need a pair to go to, like, Anaheim.”