Disney’s Legacy Of Collaborating With Celebrity Brands Continues With Harry Styles

For the first time, Disney and Harry Styles' product line Pleasing are teaming up for an exclusive collaboration. The line, Disney Fantasia x Pleasing features apparel, accessories, nails and skincare.

Since its launch in November 2021, Pleasing has expanded its products to include nail polish, skincare, apparel and perfume range. The new Disney-themed Pleasing line will feature products themed after three sequences from the animated movie Fantasia.

"Partnering with brands like Pleasing, that are the hallmark of this generation, allows us to bring the fun and nostalgia of Mickey Mouse and Fantasia to modern fans in new and relevant ways. Fusing the creative brilliance and playful escapism of Disney's beloved classic with Pleasing's aesthetic results in an exciting collection that delivers something unique and truly magical," says Tasia Filippatos, president of Disney Consumer Products.

The 30-piece Disney Fantasia x Pleasing line showcases three different sequences from the movie, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Pastoral Symphony", and "The Dance of The Hours," with original illustrations.

The new line also brings new business to Disney Springs, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A limited-time pop-up has taken over the former NBA Experience building. Here, Disney and Styles fans can shop the collection through October 27, 2024. The NBA Experience opened in August 2019, replacing the defunct DisneyQuest, then shuttered during the closures of Walt Disney World during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was announced to be permanently closed in 2021. The space has been used as a sort of flex-space housing a Star Wars virtual reality experience from May through July 2022, and now the Pleasing pop-up.

Pleasing creatives sifted through the Disney archives to create the line and were drawn to Fantasia immediately. The movie features vibrant colors and sounds from some Disney animators and composers like Beethoven. Pleasing's design team got to look at archival illustrations and sketches for inspiration for the Disney collaboration.

"When visiting the Disney archives, we had the opportunity to look through lots of archived and special illustrations which was very exciting - especially as a child who went to the Disney parks – getting a peek behind the curtains of how these beautiful movies and moments are made felt truly inspiring," says Harry Lambert, Creative Director, Pleasing.

"From very early on, Fantasia was always in the front of our minds at Pleasing; the aesthetics, the mood, the bold illustrations, the colors, and ultimately, the epic world that Disney has created, were very much a world that resonated with Pleasing. Fantasia feels very similar in terms of its overall aesthetic and musical influence – it just felt right for us," Lambert continues.

A Growing Legacy of Creativity

But this isn't the first time Disney has partnered with celebrities or high-end fashion houses to showcase new apparel and products. In fact, Disney has a long history of celebrity collaborations . And since the consumer products segment reported $5.3 billion in revenue in 2023, so it should come as no surprise that celebrity pop-ups and collaborations for new merchandise are big business.

Ten years ago, the company partnered with Marc Jacobs for one of the first luxury fashion licenses in North America. According to License Global , "Fashion-forward collaborations often include designers who, like most of the world, hold a deep nostalgia, love and connection to a brand born from a childhood memory." Since then, other fashion houses like Givenchy, Kate Spade, Gucci and Kith have been able to partner with Disney to create lines based on characters or movies.

In 2019, Disney tapped a slew of celebrities to design limited-edition mouse ear headbands and hats that are popular accessories for theme park goers. These new headpieces were designed by the likes of Vera Wang, Heidi Klum and Betsey Johnson from the fashion world. The collaboration also boasted ears designed by icons from Disney, including Imagineers Joe Rohde and Kim Irvine, and Star Wars voice actress, Ashley Eckstein.

Even more recently during 2024's Paris Fashion Week, fashion house Coperni partnered with Disney not only for inspiration for its newest designs but for an entire runway show at Disneyland Paris , a first for any fashion brand.

"When we first met with the Disney team, we immediately started to imagine the possibilities beyond the two of us, beyond what we have known and what we have accomplished so far," the brand released. The new collection is inspired by Disney princesses like Snow White, theme park-loving Disney fans, and powerful Disney villains.

Disney's partnership with Gap, which started in 2016, has also expanded. The two brands are now partnering on new, limited-edition collaborations, the first being a Mickey & Friends collegiate collection. Since Disney is one big synergy machine, it brought Mickey and Minnie Mouse plus the complete collection from Gap to a college football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia, which aired on ABC. The collaboration continued as ESPN College GameDay featured a creator pop-up that showcased the Gap x Disney collection, plus accessories from Stoney Clover Lane, Kendra Scott, and Little Words Project, of which all three brands also have Disney collaborations.