Internet Memes go High-End with Gucci

• 30, Mar, 2017
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Today’s fashion world seems to be filled with a constant never ending flow of collaborations between brands, taste-makers, online influencers, and celebrities of near epic proportions. Brands from all ends of the style and pricing spectrum whether it’s H&M (who has been releasing successful collections with Balmain and Kenzo), Lacoste and Supreme who just released a new joint spring/summer collection, or Pums which worked with Rihanna for a new line of women’s sneakers are constantly in vying  to keep their brands relevant, cool, and ahead of their ever expanding competition. To reach a the ever growing important millenial target demographic, couture fashion house Gucci has begun an interesting approach to reaching younger consumers: creating Instragamable memes that are quirky, artsy, and visually compelling.

If it’s one thing I and millenials in general like to do is to post, tag, and share “dank” memes all over our social media profiles. Central to the campaign is the hashtag and theme “#TFW Gucci” (That Feeling When Gucci) to promote their new line of watches. Rather than use any social platform, Instagram is the ideal choice for a high-end cutting-edge fashion brand like Gucci because the platform is all about creating high-quality professional looking photos for all to drool over and share.

#TFWGucci Derek Lucas, AKA @champagneemojis was inspired by the super-recent Arthur meme — the cartoon aardvark represents utter frustration with a clenched fist. New York-based photographer Benjamin Langford (@blangblang92) reinterpreted the meme through his own lens. Langford shoots flowers with a languorous, detached gaze, printing them larger-than-life. They represent the elusive illusion of authentic experience, a tantalizing beauty never quite reachable. For #TFWGucci, a #LeMarchédesMerveilles watch on his wrist and a bunch of flowers in his fist, Arthur is still frustrated. – Text by @kchayka. Discover more through link in bio.

A post shared by Gucci (@gucci) on Mar 20, 2017 at 2:32am PDT

Several posts for the campaign come from a wide-range or artists such as the photography team @meatwreck (née Mitra Saboury and Derek Paul Boyle), designer @williamcult (William Ndatila) and documentarian @littlebrownmushroom (Alec Soth), Posts range from the absurd/surreal with one depicting a Gucci watch shown through a torn up suite sleeve, classical Italian artworks framed around the need to get the watches, and even ones depicting plaster hands! The end result is posts that look like they are pieces that belong in a gallery collection due to their artistic nature and short captions for each piece.

#TFWGucci John Trulli, AKA @cabbagecatmemes, takes on the well known-structure of the “guy she says I shouldn’t worry about” meme with the addition of a #Gucci #LeMarchédesMerveilles timepiece. It’s a classic two-panel joke, with a mundane watch set against Gucci’s version. Trulli’s meme style is quirky and irreverent, tackling pop culture and everyday experiences in equal measure. All he has to do is add a line of text to the image and it becomes a viral vehicle. — @kchayka. Discover more through link in bio.

A post shared by Gucci (@gucci) on Mar 20, 2017 at 7:10am PDT

Even though most twenty-something will probably not be able to afford these designer watches (myself included), Gucci made the extra effort to ensure their older and larger client base understands what these memes are through a clever and funny landing page. Truthfully, Gucci is going in direction that no other fashion brand has gone to at the moment, as they are combining the worlds of internet meme culture and high-fashion into a what feels like an online gallery complete with a large spectrum of artistic talent, imagery, and content to be viewed over and over again. It’s all around absurd, interesting, self-deprecating, and most importantly timely.