CLAMP and CLUTCH: the art

In Con Job, Jacob and Samantha discover a gorgeous costume, based on a design by the famous artists CLUTCH. This is an unashamedly blatant reference to the famous creators CLAMP.

CLAMP is a Japanese art group known for their characters’ distinctive elongated style and ridiculously detailed, impractical-but-drool-worthy fashions. It’s a sure bet that CLAMP art will feature ruffles, buckles, feathered wings, or all three. Also, there’s a good chance of a one-eyed character.

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye; then it’s CLAMP.

— common joke among fans

CLAMP’s lean limbs and wings are really distinctive. Once, as we sat at an airport gate, my mother asked me out of nowhere, “Who makes that, you know, the lanky angels?” And a woman sitting across the aisle, a total stranger, offered, “Do you mean CLAMP?”

They’ve produced famous manga titles such as X/1999, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, xxxHolic, Magic Knight Rayearth, Code Geass, and many more. Many of their stories have been adapted into anime, and of course their artbooks are very popular. Here’s a sampling of their work:

And, just for fun, here’s a few costumes my own cosplay group “…And Sewing Is Half the Battle!” has made from CLAMP sources: