On the third collaboration between the Japanese artist and British fashion designer.
By Amélie Rae Mayumi
'No Way' Graphic Sweatshirt from Yoshitomo Nara × Stella McCartney's A Rock'n'Roll Forest collection. Image courtesy of Stella McCartney.
A gray sweatshirt in Stella McCartney's new collection shows a small child in a green dress standing between two hand-lettered words: NO WAY. It costs $790.
Yoshitomo Nara, No Nukes, 1998. Acrylic and colored pencil on paper, 36 × 22.5 cm. Private collection. © Yoshitomo Nara. Image: David Zwirner.
The child is Yoshitomo Nara's, and his children have been refusing things for decades. In July 2012, protesters carried reproductions of his 1998 painting No Nukes as picket signs against the restart of Japan's nuclear reactors. Nara had allowed them to download and reproduce the image for the demonstrations. Fourteen years later, his familiar little figures appear throughout A Rock'n'Roll Forest, his third limited-edition collaboration with McCartney, released November 11, 2026.
Two names from college
I first became familiar with both artists in college, although through entirely different interests. Stella McCartney caught my attention through Chloé and later adidas. While studying fashion design at FIDM in Los Angeles, I used to tear her advertisements out of magazines and save them for inspiration. I particularly adored her tennis collections, which made me want to play the sport just to have an excuse to wear the clothes.
McCartney became creative director of Chloé in 1997 and established her own fashion house in 2001. Her parents, Paul and Linda McCartney, raised their children as vegetarians, and Linda's advocacy for animal rights was a significant influence. Stella brought those convictions into an industry where leather and fur were synonymous with luxury, establishing her label without either. Her long-running partnership with adidas began in 2004.
Nara's work was equally familiar during my years living in Los Angeles, from 2005 to 2012. His characters were favorites among friends and I regularly encountered his imagery through Giant Robot on Sawtelle Boulevard and followed his exhibitions at Blum & Poe. His paintings were instantly recognizable, even when their subjects were difficult to interpret. The children looked innocent enough, yet their expressions suggested they knew considerably more than they were willing to share.
Rock'n'Roll and Conviction
Born in 1959 in Hirosaki, northern Japan, Nara spent much of his childhood alone while his parents worked. Around second grade, he began listening to American music through a small crystal radio he had built himself, picking up broadcasts from the Far East Network at Misawa Air Base, approximately 100 kilometers away. The Vietnam War was underway, and the music played for American military personnel introduced him to rock, soul, blues and folk, including artists whose songs questioned war and authority.
Music became central to his artistic development. Before there were museums in his hometown to introduce him to fine art, there were album covers. He later spent twelve years studying and working in Germany, returning to Japan in 2000. His opposition to war and nuclear power had already found expression in his earlier work, but the Fukushima disaster in 2011 brought renewed attention to those convictions, particularly when No Nukes became associated with the following year's protests.
McCartney's concerns have centered on animals and the environment, shaping not only the appearance of her clothes but the materials used to produce them. Their causes are different, although both have made their principles part of their professional practice.
The two first collaborated on Stella Shared in 2021, followed by a second collection for spring/summer 2023. Nara has described McCartney as having an "iron will, with heart," while McCartney wrote his tribute for TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential people. It is a friendship built on mutual admiration as much as shared creative interests.
The Collection
A Rock'n'Roll Forest brings Nara's drawings and handwritten messages to knitwear, denim, jackets, handbags, footwear and smaller accessories. McCartney's familiar silhouettes remain intact, with the artwork incorporated through embroidery, prints, unusual textures and construction.
Among the standouts is the Cutie in the Puddle Wool Varsity Jacket, made with responsibly sourced wool and animal-leather-alternative sleeves. Nara's characters are embroidered where a traditional school crest might appear, with a larger illustration across the back. The Too Young to Die Wool Sweater gives nearly its entire front to one of his green-eyed faces, while the Graphic Embroidered Jeans carry his handwriting, including ROCK'N'ROLL FOR WORLD PEACE.
Yoshitomo Nara drawing on the Cutie in the Puddle Falabella Mini Tote. Video: @michinara3 / #ShotByStella.
The handbags are particularly interesting. The cream-colored Cutie in the Puddle Falabella Mini Tote combines plush, curly texture with the house's signature chain trim, and small chains hang beneath the character's eyes on the opposite side. The back carries the embroidered words WE ARE OUTLAWS, accompanied by a small YES!
In a video shared on Instagram, Nara draws directly onto one of the Falabella bags with a black marker, adding a bandage to the character's cheek and additional illustrations along its side. It is a rare opportunity to watch him work directly on an object from the collection.
Those words were immediately familiar. We had recently seen Nara's ceramic vessel We Are Outlaws in RM's personal collection at SFMOMA, part of RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me. The phrase appears again on a cream-colored wool sweater in this collection, where one of Nara's children holds a sign bearing the same declaration. Seeing the same words painted onto a ceramic vessel and then knitted and embroidered into clothing was a wonderful connection to discover.
Other accessories reinterpret his drawings in equally playful ways. The Graphic Textured Crossbody Bags follow the outlines of his characters, while the Multi Print Wool Scarf is covered in sketches and handwriting. Embroidered faces appear on the textured earmuffs and slides, and the Tokyo Graphic Print Sneaker, made with adidas, carries his artwork across the familiar three stripes. Available in blue and red or beige, the sneakers were what first caught my attention and brought back those old Stella McCartney advertisements from college.
Nara has spoken about the increasing value of his paintings, many of which are purchased as investments and kept in storage. In a January 2025 interview with art publisher Hatje Cantz, he explained that making books and merchandise allows younger admirers to live with images of his work even when they cannot afford an original painting. A luxury fashion collection serves a different audience, but it offers another opportunity to encounter his art in forms beyond the gallery.
There is a pleasure in recognizing the same character across a painting, a ceramic vessel, a sweater and a handbag, and in seeing how the material changes the experience of the image. McCartney's designs make room for Nara's familiar expressions without losing the construction and attention to materials that have defined her work for more than twenty years.
The collection is available through Stella McCartney's website and select boutiques. And for those who would rather see Nara's work in a museum, SFMOMA has announced a major retrospective for fall 2027.