Getting closer to the gaming world, Gucci is launching Gucci Sneaker Garage these days, the long-awaited section of its App, conceived as a platform entirely dedicated to its sneakers in digital version. The new section takes inspiration from the image of the garage as a forge of talents and ideas and contains a mix of stories, games, and user-generated content, hosting the first virtual sneakers created by creative director Alessandro Michele: the Gucci Virtual 25. These hyper-realistic sneakers combine technical details and creatively unprecedented details, referencing an ’80s-inspired aesthetic revisited in a contemporary way. They can be purchased exclusively in a virtual way, allowing users to “try on” their sneakers and interact with their digital avatar in an augmented reality context and virtual environments. To strengthen the bond that Gucci has developed with gaming communities, the Gucci Virtual 25 will also be available on Aglet, where they will be launched together with all the other sneakers of the brand, and can be worn on popular immersive platforms like Roblox and VRChat through the game modes included in the purchase, as well as personalized additional content.
But that’s not all. Because the platform also allows players to use an advanced feature that allows them to customize or create their model from scratch by combining uppers, soles, and patterns of the maison sneakers. A group of artists has paved the way for the project, including Helen Kirkum, Michael Cutini, Mattias Gollin, Rudy Lim, Bodega Rose, Haram With Sugar, Ghica Popa, Jemma Mason, Christopher Chan, Pix Sellers, Delphine Dénéréaz, and Trevor Andrew, a longtime friend of the Maison. Gucci asked them to imagine the brand’s sneakers as a blank canvas, a starting point to express their creativity in order to bring to life works to be exhibited in a sort of virtual gallery. Using different means and techniques, each artist faced the materiality of the shoes, going beyond their functionality in search of the cultural and symbolic meaning they represent. The result of the operation can be seen in the gallery below.
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1/12 Bodega Rose
2/12 Christopher Chan
3/12 Delphine Denereaz
4/12 Ghica Popa
5/12 Haram With Sugar
6/12 Helen Kirkum
7/12 Mattias Gollin
8/12 Michael Cutini
9/12 Pix Sellers
10/12 Rudy Lim
11/12 Sneaky Strings (Jemma Mason)
12/12 Trevor Andrew
