Gucci has teamed up with Dazed Media for the launch of their new marketing campaign, “Absolute Beginners.” The project taps nine first time directors to create a short film centered on their Gucci Jackie 1961 bag. Films by actors Elle Fanning (“Super 8“), Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (“Luce“), Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim“), Benedetta Porcaroli (“18 Presents“), and Emma Corrin (“The Crown“) were included in the first drop of shorts.
The purpose of the campaign is to note the vulnerability in well-known names such as Fanning and Harrison pouring their souls into a creative endeavor of a brand new medium. The amateur directors were given the freedom to showcase the bag any way they desired. Harrison and Fanning took vastly different directions with their films.
Harrison took a personal approach to his film. As he told Teen Vogue, his short was about the “seemingly ever-present fear of love.” The physical bag is a stand-in for emotional baggage shared in a romantic relationship. Fanning directed her film with a light-hearted touch. As Teen Vogue also reported, she wanted the tone of her short to reflect the fact that she is a first-time director. Fanning decided to tell a fun story that showed off some of Gucci’s fun and sparkly garments.
“Absolute Beginners” comes with a supplementary TikTok challenge. The fashion powerhouse recruited Morgan Presley, a TikToker who created the #GucciModelChallenge, to help promote the challenge. She will create her own #GucciAbsoluteBeginners video that both promotes the challenge and encourages other TikTok users to join in. While its original purpose was to mock Gucci, the brand is clearly hoping to see the same viral result with the campaign as they did with the #GucciModelChallenge.
The final four films drop on Friday, November 6. They feature directorial debuts of Lily Gavin (“Giants Being Lonely“), Barry Keoghan (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer“), Yoshi, and singer Arlo Parks.
Here are the first shorts: