Luxury Briefing: Are fashion films smart investments in 2025?

Directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, the 30-minute “The Tiger” film premiered in Milan on September 23 alongside Demna Gvasalia’s first Gucci collection. Demi Moore plays Barbara Gucci, the matriarch of a fictional family whose birthday dinner dissolves into unease. Edward Norton, in one of the film’s most striking moments, challenges her to imagine being trapped with a tiger. His advice — to give in and be devoured — feels symbolic. Gucci itself is confronting rivals, shifting consumer tastes and slowing sales.

The film’s wardrobe was sourced directly from Demna’s “La Famiglia” collection for Gucci. More than 30 characters representing different Gucci archetypes are seen wearing the looks, which feature sequins, faux fur and tailored coats with G-logo buttons. The style’s details signal that the brand intends to appeal to aspirational Gen Z shoppers and loyal luxury clients at once. The brand was not reachable for comment.

Fashion films are not new. Prada’s “Candy” (2011), Dior’s “Lady Blue Shanghai” (2010) and Gucci’s “Bloom” (2017) all leveraged cinema formats. What distinguishes “The Tiger” is its longer length, its cast — Moore, Norton and Kendall Jenner among them — and its positioning as the primary platform for a new designer’s debut. In Milan, Gucci hosted a screening event in place of a runway show, with editors, celebrities and clients invited to watch the film.

Gucci needed the noise. In the second quarter of 2025, Gucci’s sales fell 25% year over year on a comparable basis, to about €1.46 billion ($1.58 billion), while Kering’s group revenue declined 15% to €3.7 billion ($4 billion). Gucci’s retail sales dropped 23%. For Kering’s new leadership, led by Kering CEO Luca de Meo, who has been in the position since June, and Gucci CEO Francesca Bellettini, who has been CEO for just a month, Demna’s debut needed to make a splash, and it did. Launchmetrics data showed that Gucci’s media mentions tripled the day after the film’s release, driving $14 million in media impact. By fashion week standards, that is modest. Prada’s Spring 2025 Milan show generated around $43 million, while Tommy Hilfiger’s New York outing the same season drew $39.9 million. Even Michael Kors’s Spring 2025 show surpassed it at $24.5 million.

Jenna Barnet, CEO of strategic consultancy and studio The Sunshine Company, has built her business around this intersection of fashion and entertainment. Sunshine developed Balmain’s “Wonder Boy” documentary in 2019 and scripted drama “Fracture” in 2021, developed Calvin Klein’s story led brand strategy in 2022, and have advised beauty giant L’Oréal on entertainment thinking and story led strategy.

“Commercials you have to pay people to watch. Films people pay you to watch,” Barnet told Glossy. “That’s the difference.”

She distinguished between “content,” which fills feeds but fades quickly; product placement, where fashion appears inside someone else’s story; and fashion film, where a house authors the narrative itself. The last category is risky, but it carries cultural weight, she said.

“From a financial perspective, ‘The Tiger’ allowed for the merging of a massive runway show budget and a massive campaign budget,” Barnet said. “It’s a launch vehicle for the vision of a new director that needed to make a lot of noise.”

Industry sources estimate that brand films cost $5 million to $10 million, depending on cast fees and production value. By comparison, a major luxury runway show can cost $1 million to $3 million, while a global campaign with celebrity talent often exceeds $10 million.

In Barnet’s eyes, film offers efficiency, but also longevity. “Even if it operated at net zero by Hollywood standards, that is still a phenomenal return compared to a marketing budget that just goes into a black hole,” Barnett said.

On top of brand-produced films, many films have been made about luxury brands, proving interest beyond the fashion industry. The 2014 biopic “Saint Laurent”, produced without the company’s involvement, cost around €8.7 million ($9.2 million) and grossed just $2.4 million worldwide. More recently, Ridley Scott’s 2021 film “House of Gucci,” starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, was openly criticized by the Gucci family and released without brand collaboration. Meanwhile, Emilia Pérez (2024), produced by Saint Laurent Productions, became a Cannes winner and earned $16.3 million globally.

Luxury fashion is not the only one dabbling in film — beauty is also embracing the medium. Dior Beauty’s “The Future is Gold” (2016), directed by Matthew Frost and starring Charlize Theron, was structured as a cinematic short rather than a commercial. Chanel Beauty’s “Inside Chanel” series, launched in 2013, has released more than 30 short films exploring the house’s heritage. And 2021, L’Oréal’s Lancôme launched its “La Vie Est Belle” film campaign, featuring Julia Roberts, which has since become a decade-long franchise. These projects function less like seasonal taglines and more like entertainment properties, underscoring that beauty, too, is searching for cultural longevity.

Runways have also evolved based on the move to video. Once closed events for buyers and editors, they are now engineered for livestreams, viral stunts and social media content. They function less as insider showcases and more as engines for digital storytelling.

Barnet is clear-eyed about the risks. “You have to get comfortable with the fact that [a film] has a lot of jeopardy. It may not be good. People may or may not want to watch it.” Gucci’s “The Tiger” has 1.5 million views on YouTube and a combined 37.2 million views across film teasers posted to Instagram.

“Right now, we have maybe 20 or 30 examples [of fashion films available to reference in the industry]. We should have 3,000,” Barnet said, arguing that many brand stories have gone untold.

Gucci’s decision to lead with a film underscores both the urgency of its attempted reset. “The Tiger” consolidated budgets, delivered measurable media impact and created cultural conversation. But whether audiences will return to it, or whether it translates into sales, remains uncertain. As Barnet put it: “People may or may not want to watch it. But if you want to operate in that space, you have to take those risks.”

Inside the buy: What Harrods is betting on

Simon Longland, director of fashion buying at Harrods, described Milan Fashion Week as “a season of transition,” where some designers arrived with “a fully realized and compelling vision,” while others showed “strong starting points that will take time to evolve.” 

He singled out Louise Trotter’s debut at Bottega Veneta as “without doubt, the highlight of the week,” calling it “strong, assured and already deeply in tune with the house.” He also praised Gucci’s show as “a cultural moment” and noted Fendi’s “beautifully vibrant color palette” and “extremely compelling” accessories.

Earnings

In its Q4 earnings, reported September 25, LuxExperience, parent company of Mytheresa, Yoox, Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter, reported illustrative net sales of €2.8 billion ($3.0 billion), down 5.9% year over year. Mytheresa led with €916 million ($972 million), up 8.9%, which CEO Michael Kliger said “confirms again our unique ability to deliver profitable growth despite ongoing macro headwinds.” Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter declined 10.9%, while off-price revenues (Yoox and The Outnet) fell 13.2%. Costs remain elevated: selling, general and administrative expenses at NAP and MRP reached 24.6% of GMV versus 13.4% at Mytheresa. CFO Martin Beer projected GMV of €2.5–€2.9 billion ($2.7–3.1 billion) for 2026, with EBITDA margins between -4% and +1%, calling it “a transition year.”

Executive Moves

• Fendi announced that, effective October 1, Silvia Venturini Fendi will become honorary president of the house, focusing on heritage and craftsmanship after three decades shaping accessories and menswear, and, more recently, womenswear. The brand has yet to name a new creative director.
• Dunhill has named Matthew Ives, formerly chief commercial officer at De Beers and a Richemont veteran, as CEO effective Oct. 13, succeeding interim chief Andrew Holmes.

News to know

• The European Commission has approved Prada Group’s €1.25 billion ($1.33 billion) acquisition of Versace from Capri Holdings, with the deal set to close in the second half of 2025.
• Ralph Lauren will open The Polo Bar at London’s 1 Hanover Square in 2028, marking the brand’s sixth restaurant worldwide. The space was formerly the headquarters of Condé Nast U.K.
• Google has updated AI Mode so that when you search for products, it now shows bigger, more detailed pictures, along with their prices, available colors, reviews and stock levels. Users can also talk to it more naturally. For example, asking for “jeans that aren’t too baggy” and then refining that by saying “make them ankle length” reveals instantly updated results.

Listen in

On this Milan Fashion Week edition of the Glossy Podcast, international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska joins editor-in-chief Jill Manoff and Betches’s new style director, Madeline Galassi, to unpack the season’s biggest stories, from NikeSkims’s buzzworthy launch and London’s standout moments to Milan’s bold turns by Diesel, Fendi, Prada and Jil Sander. 

At the center is Gucci, where Demna’s fast-tracked debut paired a celebrity-filled film premiere with an immediate capsule collection drop. With insights from luxury analyst Luca Solca, the episode highlights how Milan has become the ultimate stage for reinvention. Listen here.

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