Still from Bottega Veneta’s “Emotion of Sound”
Italian fashion label Bottega Veneta is bringing its spring/summer 2015 collection to life in a film project created with the help of dancers and artists.
For “Emotion of Sound,” the brand gave a group of creatives carte blanche to take ambient noise from its atelier and craft a visual story around it. The film is intended to “emotionally engage and indulge the senses” of Bottega Veneta’s audience.
“Generally, Bottega Veneta is known as setting benchmark in incredibly stylish leather goods, often overshadowing the ready-to-wear collection,” said Matthew Marchak, CEO/president of The Eighth Floor, New York. “‘Emotion of Sound’ breaks this barrier by straying away from the typical stereotypes of the brand and incorporating the gentle yet impactful use of sound to relay the innovation of this collection.”
Mr. Marchak is not affiliated with Bottega Veneta, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Bottega Veneta was unable to comment directly.
Sounding board
Bottega Veneta began teasing Emotion of Sound on social media four days before its release on Feb. 18.
On its release date, the brand shared the entire two-minute film on social media, and also invited consumers to explore the project via a dedicated page on its Web site. Here, consumers can read bios about the artist and sound producer Setsuya Kurotaki from Rhizomaticks, who has also worked on a number of fashion shows, as well as Rhizomatiks founder Daito Manabe.
The director, Yusuke Tanaka, has filmed campaigns for Mercedes-Benz, including a Super Mario-themed effort.
Still from Emotion of Sound
At the beginning of the film, a female dancer emerges from a shadowy corner of a white studio, dressed all in black. The soundtracks clicks at a slow pace as the video cuts to other dancers, who make small movements, turning their hands or gently rolling up their body.
As the music picks up, so does the movement, as the dancers kick, leap, turn and bourree across the floor, dressed in shades of white, grey and black.
Still from Emotion of Sound
Playing with shadows, the film captures the darkened walls as the dancers perform duets with their own outlines.
Costume changes allow for a more dramatic effect, as well as showing off more of the collection.
Emotion of Sound
Via a tab on the Web page, consumers can explore how the film came together. A short black-and-white film shows the dancers being styled and captures the collaborative atmosphere on set.
On this page, the brand’s creative director Tomas Maier explains, “Sound can be a very intriguing sense, and just as the other senses, highly personal. It can convey a lot about its source and can trigger imagination unique to the individual. I was interested in exploring this through the creation of something utterly unique, and could not be more impressed with the result of this collaboration.”
Artistic partnership
Bottega Veneta keeps art at the forefront of its campaigns, offering different perspectives of its collections through creative partnerships.
Each year, for every season of looks, Bottega Veneta offers consumer’s a different perspective with a different guest photographer for the campaign. Starting with the fall/winter 2002-2003 campaign with Robin Broadbent, the brand has collaborated with several photographers over the past 11 years.
The Art of Collaboration sees many different locations and photography choices, but each collaboration focuses on the collection at hand (see story).
Dance has been the chosen subject of other fashion films, due to its ability to show apparel moving in ways not seen on a runway.
LVMH-owned and editorially independent Web site Nowness unveiled a new shoppable video feature to blend content and commerce.
Nowness unveiled this new experience through a dance film that shows a range of fashion including Louis Vuitton, Kenzo and Bottega Veneta. “Mine All Mine” shows five dancers from London’s Sadler’s Wells Theater, who run around a gym stealing each other’s outfits in the process (see story).
This project allows Bottega Veneta to show a new side of its artistic expression and collaboration.
“Bottega Veneta has long been one of my favorite brands because they are classically timeless and effortlessly chic,” Mr. Marchak said. “However, it’s clear for spring/summer, Tomas is incorporating a clean yet effective modern approach to their classic brand. To do this and not alienate your existing customer, it’s important to explain why this direction is being taken and by using such an impactful medium, he’s managed to appeal to both new and existing consumers alike.
“One of the struggles that The Eighth Floor Communications has encountered when representing classic, established brands is that they have to fight harder to appeal to a fresh target audience in order to maintain consistent and growing fan base,” he said. “By taking this creative and surprising approach to this collection, Bottega Veneta has allowed their consumers to envision the pieces featured as wearable art versus classic static garments.”
Final Take
Sarah Jones, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York