Capturing the Elusive Givenchy Spring 2016 Show

For Givenchy’s first New York Fashion Week show, which took place last night, the brand’s creative director Riccardo Tisci tapped artist Marina Abramovic to create a surreal environment complete with live performances and eccentric happenings, and asked multimedia/installation artist Marco Brambilla to capture every inch of the magic using virtual reality technology never before used to document a fashion show.

Abramovic’s installation, which spanned the length of a New York City pier, included a diverse assortment of surreal happenings, including, but not limited to, women climbing ladders, llamas, grand pianos, Serbian folk singers, cellists, and violinists, which were interspersed throughout the space.

The idea for implementing three-dimensional technology to record the show first came to Brambilla when it became obvious he couldn’t fully capture it with one or two cameras, but needed a more comprehensive recording structure in order to fully experience the show in its’ entirety. “When I met with Marina and saw the scope and how visually rich it was, I knew I wanted to immortalize the show and create a kind of time capsule, one that puts you in the center of this incredible universe with as many vantage points as possible.”

For the final film, which Givenchy will release this fall, Brambilla and his team will edit the footage using technology to allow for someone to get the full 3D virtual reality experience just by viewing it on their computer.

“In both my art and for this show it’s about immersion and experimenting with presence. While you are aware you’re not physically there, to feel you are is incredible–it places you in that moment in time, at that place.”