We're not sure what these sinister scenes say about Gucci's clothes.
Gucci has run some weird and wonderful campaigns over the years, but its latest has to be one of the strangest, or at least the most terrifying. The fashion brand's launched a tribute to the legendary film director Stanley Kubrick. And how do you pay tribute to one of the biggest names in cinema history? By putting your clothes into some of his most famous scenes in a strangely unsettling way.
The campaign that's very much a labour of love in terms of the level of detail recreated from scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut. It also retains some of the tension of the original films but takes it to an uncanny level that's sinister in its own way. What this says about Gucci's clothes, we have no idea (if you missed it, see how a Japanese clothing company trolled Gucci with its logo design and lived to tell the tale).
Gucci's Exquisite includes a cinematic short film and series of images that recreate scenes from some of Kubrick's most famous films, adding in steely eyed models and, of course, Gucci products. As always for Gucci, the photography, courtesy of Mert and Marcus, is stunning (after all, Gucci even does amazing photography for the ridiculous Gucci pet collection). The attention to detail is also incredible. The message is... erm... that droogs would wear Adidas x Gucci when out for "a bit of the old ultraviolence"?
A Gucci dress in deep space in 2001: A Space Odyssey(Image credit: Gucci)
A scene recreated from The Shining(Image credit: Gucci)
And another(Image credit: Gucci)
Gucci at the milk bar in tribute to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange(Image credit: Gucci)
Another scene from A Clockwork Orange(Image credit: Gucci)
A scene from Barry Lyndon(Image credit: Gucci)
There's no denying that with set design from Gideon Ponte, who worked on American Psycho, and art direction by Christopher Simmonds, the replicas of Kubrick's scenes are impressively precise – and beautiful too. But some might say the campaign reduces the work of an outstanding film director into a disjointed series of meaningless visual setpieces that make designer clothing look frankly sinister.
According to Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele, “Manipulating [Kubrick's] images, inside a brand new semantic framework, is like hacking La Gioconda." He says the campaign is all about how clothing can "sacralize the human and its metamorphic ability", showing that a garment is not just a piece of fabric but "a means through which we are able to unfold who we really decide to be" (but dear reader, please don't decide to be one of the models in the film).
Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
