Italian fashion brand Gucci recently introduced its new creative director, Sabato de Sarno, with a unique approach. The brand recreated its Milan Fashion Week runway show on three virtual platforms in the metaverse – Zepeto, Roblox, and QQ, alongside the live show on September 22.
The fashion collection, called “Ancora,” an encore in Italian, was initially planned to be showcased near the Accademia di Brera, a well-known fine arts university in Milan. Unfortunately, unfavorable weather conditions forced the organizers to move the event indoors.
Nevertheless, the virtual version of the show remained faithful to the original concept, enabling people from all over the world to participate and engage without being affected by weather issues.
Gucci’s permanent experience on the Roblox platform was updated to resemble the physical location of the show in the Brera district. Additionally, the fashion brand provided three mini-games that visitors could play during the virtual show to win limited edition rewards.
The Zepeto platform live-streamed Gucci’s runway show and incorporated features from Brera and the show into its Gucci Ancora space. Users could even buy items from the physical show for their avatars from a virtual Gucci store.
Additionally, the Chinese social platform QQ hosted a screening for its Gucci community to participate in. Over the past few years, the luxury brand has delved into the crypto, NFT, and metaverse worlds. Since 2021, it has worked with Roblox and released a digital version of its Dionysus handbag on the metaverse gaming platform. The NFT accessories originally cost $6 per piece but have since skyrocketed to as high as $4,000, surpassing the cost of their physical counterparts.
In May 2022, the company announced that it would now accept crypto payments in at least five US-based stores, with plans to extend the service to all 111 locations in the US and Canada.
In March 2023, Gucci teamed up with Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), following the launch of the Gucci Vault Metaverse on another gaming platform, the Sandbox.