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One of the easiest-to-understand uses of the new Apple Vision Pro is the ability to watch immersive 3D movies. This turns out to also serve as an ideal form factor for Gucci, an early adopter of new storytelling technologies at a time when it is working overtime to convey the gospel of new creative director Sabato de Sarno.
Tomorrow, Gucci will unveil the immersive version of its documentary, “Who is Sabato De Sarno? A Gucci Story”, created for Apple’s mixed reality headset and available via the Gucci app. The story takes viewers through the weeks leading up to de Sarno’s debut show in September 2023; called Gucci Ancora (meaning “again”), the collection arrives in stores this month.
While multiple brands have experimented with shoppable stores using the Vision Pro, Gucci started with an approach that more heavily emphasises art and entertainment (and brand education), hoping that viewing immersive films is likely a more familiar experience than making purchases while immersed in a headset.
The Apple Vision Pro is seen as a step-change in spatial computing, which refers to computer-aided experiences that happen in the world around us. In a LinkedIn post discussing the experimental film, Gucci’s VP of brand innovation ventures Micael Barilaro shared his belief that this type of technology could revolutionise various facets of life, including interactive education and storytelling. “While recent applications of the Apple Vision Pro have predominantly revolved around e-commerce, we recognised the importance of charting a distinct course that resonated with our brand ethos. Our focus lies in crafting curated, emotionally resonant experiences that place emphasis on meaningful engagement,” Barilaro writes.
The film itself is a mere 20 minutes, but the AVP experience ultimately lasts much longer, thanks to 3D extras that invite the viewer to interact with larger-than-life Gucci products, ephemera and exclusive special effects not seen when it was released on 15 March.
These effects bring the Gucci experience into your home, and give you the time and space to delve further into the details of the collection. I recently had the opportunity to test out the film experience on the APV. As de Sarno’s dachshund Luce is introduced, a digital version trots across my living room. As guests receive a Gucci bracelet invitation, a 3D version unfolds in front of me — out of the 2D film screen and in my own space. When de Sarno enters his Milan office for the first time, a cascade of Gucci red balloons fall from the ceiling, creating the brief perception that one is walking into his office just behind him.
At one point, sketches of de Sarno’s first collection unfolded in the air in front of me. I paused the video and was able to move and zoom in on each sketch — like a conductor immersed in my own Gucci exhibit. While Gucci has displayed archival elements via a series of physical exhibits, this is something that wouldn’t be possible in the physical world. It’s these types of surprising moments that commit details to memory. I didn’t just see pictures of the red elevator that is central to founder Guccio Gucci’s origin store; I stood in it and looked around. The experience switches between mixed reality, in which you can see your own environment, and full immersion, meaning full virtual reality. Sometimes, it feels like watching a movie on a wide screen — until a life-sized Milanese tram thunders behind the screen.
The biggest jolt to the senses is the rain. The Gucci Ancora show was originally planned to unfold outside on the streets in the Brera area of Milan, and Gucci painted the town red, literally, leading up to the day. At the last minute, the show moved inside due to storms, and as the rain began falling around me, the instinctual reaction was to jump and run for cover.
Perhaps the impending piece de resistance for Gucci are the 3D products, rendered in extremely high fidelity. When a shiny new Diana Notte bag is resting on my living room mantle, or a platform horsebit loafer is hovering above my head like a thought bubble sent from angels on high, it’s all the more tempting to want to make it official.
The impetus to complete that final step — to buy it with Apple Pay — is appealing, but Gucci resisted that urge, for now. This is largely in keeping with its previous strategy of exploring new technologies through art, rather than commerce. Gucci was the first luxury brand to offer an NFT — but it did so through a fashion film, auctioned through Christie’s. Its first Roblox pop-up recreated a physical Gucci Garden exhibit, decorating user avatars in personalised designs as they explored the space. More recently, it explored generative artificial intelligence by commissioning works based on its intellectual property.
It’s likely only a matter of time until the commerce element of immersive fashion films is enabled. Already, a number of brands have created shopping experiences for the Vision Pro, hoping that Apple’s marketing machine will be the requisite catalyst to bring virtual stores out of computers and phones and into a more transportative experience. While other existing brand projects, like those from Mytheresa and J Crew, aren’t immersive films, they do still take advantage of the Vision Pro’s most distinctive features: the photorealistic, transportative graphics and sound that comes with high-quality virtual reality. The hope is that just as people might be inclined to shop while on vacation, or wish they could see an item in the flesh, they might be more inclined to shop while in VR.
The theme of the Gucci film — getting to know de Sarno — is part of a wider push by Gucci to re-establish the largest jewel in parent company Kering’s crown. Gucci saw soaring success under former creative director Alessandro Michele, but as sales slid in recent years, De Sarno took over and radically shifted the aesthetic from the maximalist magpie aesthetic to something more subdued. After two shows, De Sarno’s reviews have been warm, but mixed, and Gucci is still waiting to see if its elaborate efforts to generate new energy will pay off. In March, parent company Kering issued guidance that first quarter revenues are expected to decline 10 per cent, due in part to low sales at Gucci, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The jury is still out on if people will, indeed, “fall in love with Gucci again”, as de Sarno intends.
By positioning it as an enhanced version of a familiar format — a fashion documentary — while leaning into rich details that make it come alive, the effect is impressive. In fact, I want to experience it again. Or rather, ancora.
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