Gucci will on Wednesday become the first big kahuna to show on day one of Milan Fashion Week – but it has already jumped the buzz-generating gun by sending out a curtain-raiser announcement.
Bedazzled by the 2002 Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise blockbuster, “Minority Report,” it has found a way to make that sci-fi technology (you know, where Cruise waved his arms at screens and all sorts of info magically appeared before him) real, and it is putting it in stores! Not only that — it has given it it’s own super-stylish name: the Gucci Immersive Retail Experience. Say that 10 times fast. Or check it out below. That’s the entrance to its Montenapoleone (Milan) store, where the GIRE (like fire, as is “on” — but with a g!) is debuting.
- Gucci
What GIRE, which was developed in Hollywood, natch, by OOOii, a tech design company and in Oregon by Planar Systems, appears to involve is not being put in one of those floating tanks like the Samantha Morton character in “Minority Report”, but 50 (count ‘em) 45” and 50” LCD video walls that will “create life-size interactive images.” In short, you wave your hands at them, and things happen.
What things?
Well, you can send products to your phone to share with friends, and watch the fashion show in real time, to name a few. My natural position is one of skepticism, but it’s hard to judge without experiencing it in person. It clearly brings shopping closer to entertainment…
Interestingly, this fashion-for-the-customers initiative comes just after Burberry tweeted every image in its show to its followers just before the models stepped on the runway yesterday.
Though it remains to be seen which approach is more effective, what is clear is both brands are now in a race for the number fashion/tech spot, and they’ve bet chunks of their budget on it. Anyone want to start putting odds on the winner?
Vanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.