Valentino Garavani unveiled a game changer this week in New York, launching fashion’s first virtual museum, in the form of a downloadable desktop application
Fashion exhibitions became an increasingly important part of the luxury communications landscape in 2011. For consumers, it has become clear that they are an increasingly popular medium in which to experience luxury, couture and outstanding craftsmanship.
The Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty installation – staged at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York – was first extended one week and then, in a first for the museum, remained open until midnight to cope with the overwhelming demand. The exhibition was viewed by a total of 661,509 visitors, making it the eighth most popular Met exhibit of all time, up there with Tutankhamen.
This exhibition feels particularly timely again, as Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti unveiled fashion’s first virtual museum yesterday in New York. When listening to the passionate team speak during the launch, all I could think was that exhibitions like Savage Beauty will never be restricted to one city again, nor will they ever have to close.
Instead, the richness of couture and haute design will be experienced in three-dimensions and accessed on a global scale, where garments are experienced from the start of the creative process to the end, and archives are constantly updated. These are the kind of possibilities brought to life by the launch of the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, where currently 300 of Valentino’s creations are housed in a virtual gallery space, incorporating everything from sketches to toiles to realisation and appearances on the red carpet.
Part history book, part exhibition and 100 percent engagement, the imagination runs wild at the thought of luxury brands – with their rich archives, heritage and marketing budgets – can and will do with this technology.
Please read more on the official site:
luxury society.