Milan Fashion Week premiered last week from September 19th to 25th. All the high-end fashion brands debuted their new Spring Summer collections for 2024 (SS’ 2024).
In 2023, Sabato de Sarno became the new creative director of Gucci (Moss, 2023). Making Gucci the center of attention during Milan Fashion Week. Not only did Sabato de Sarno debut his new SS ‘24 collection in Milan, but he also unveiled his collection in the metaverse.
His new collection is called Gucci Ancora, which translates to “again”. “Milano Ancora is a love letter to Milan as a place of beauty and carnality” (GUCCI®, 2023). Sabato originally planned for the show to take place in the neighbourhood Brera, which is an artistic and cultural neighbourhood. Sadly, the show eventually took place in the Gucci Hub given the poor adverse weather conditions (Deeny, 2023).
Interestingly, he debuted ‘Gucci Ancora’ in the metaverse, where bad weather conditions are luckily not a problem.
But what is the metaverse exactly?
The metaverse is a three-dimensional (3D) virtual universe that is enabled through Web 3.0 and can be accessed by using different technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) (Momtaz, 2022). In this digital world, you can browse to different spaces that are all connected to each other. Through avatars, people’s alter egos, you can do almost everything that you can do in the real world. You can interact socially and play games, but you can also make financial transactions and have ownership.
Roblox is a metaverse platform that is user-generated and focused on gaming and social interaction. In May 2022, Gucci launched its own branded universe, called Gucci Town. But since Fashion Week Gucci Town is now rebranded to Gucci Ancora.
Gucci Ancora is available worldwide since it is accessible on Roblox, Zepto, and China’s QQ (Lee, 2023). Gucci Ancora is an interactive universe where you can play minigames, which in turn can earn you rewards. But also contains different portals and valuables. Are you interested in exploring Gucci Ancora?
References:
Deeny, G. (2023). Gucci Ancora : Sabato De Sarno makes crisp and cool debut. FashionNetwork.com. https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Gucci-ancora-sabato-de-sarno-makes-crisp-and-cool-debut,1559495.html#rabanne
Lee, E. (2023). Gucci’s Milan Fashion Week Show Premieres in The Metaverse. FashionNetwork.com. https://nftnow.com/runway/guccis-milan-fashion-week-show-premieres-in-the-metaverse/
Momtaz, P. P. (2022). Some very simple economics of Web3 and the metaverse. Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4085937
Moss, J. (2023). Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024: Prada to Bottega Veneta. wallpaper.com. https://www.wallpaper.com/fashion-beauty/milan-fashion-week-ss-2024-reviews
Very interesting post! The concept of metaverse and its integration into high-end fashion, as exemplified by Sabato de Sarno’s debut, is intriguing and representative of the evolving landscape of digital experiences. However, in my opinion, exploring a fashion metaverse might raise some questions. While it allows convenience and accessibility, it also challenges the essence of a traditional fashion show for a luxury brand as Gucci. Heritage, quality and emotional connection are intrinsic values that have played a pivotal role in the success of luxury brands. While emerging technologies offer innovative and exciting ways to engage with audiences, there are certain aspects like craftsmanship, heritage and exclusivity that simply cannot be fully replicated in the digital realm.
Cool post!
I have read about similar applications of the Metaverse in fashion that also have shown some benefits. There are companies out there which use virtual showrooms that are accessible to prospective customers in order to cut down the wasteful overproduction of clothing. This way, customers can view clothing in the Metaverse and then set up an order to the supplier of the clothing, before masses of clothes have been produced, shipped around the world and potentially not bought after all. It is exciting to see how digital tools can transform such a creative industry such as fashion and I am curious to see if other fashion houses will follow suit. I think that in the current climate it may be difficult to introduce the Metaverse for fashion shows simply because many stakeholders in the market simply do not have a deep understanding or access to the technology. Furthermore I am curious if the quality and vision of designers can actually be coveyed properly. On the other hand, fashion shows have always been fairly exclusive in access, but now, poeple all around the world could take part live which is an interesting development.