While the smash hit film “Barbie” seemed tailor-made for the bevy of brand collaborations that came along with its release, the latest film to sweep across the fashion world couldn’t be more aesthetically distant from “Barbie” and its pink, candy-coated visuals.
“Dune: Part Two,” the brutalist science fiction epic directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the “Dune” novels by Frank Herbert, was released on March 1 to both critical acclaim and massive financial success. It earned nearly $180 million at the box office globally, making it the first film of 2024 to break $100 million and the biggest hit since “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer “last year.
The film’s oppressive visuals of desolate deserts, strange planets and alien cultures may seem like an odd source of fashion inspiration, but the film’s flowing, retro-futuristic costume designs have already proven inspirational. The same is true of the avant-garde outfits worn by the movie’s cast on the red carpet. Fashion brands are embracing the aesthetic, both officially and unofficially, to capitalize on the excitement around the film’s premiere.
The watch brand Hamilton, owned by Swatch Group and known for collaborations with films like “Tenet” and “Interstellar,” worked with the “Dune” production to design a key prop for the film: a wrist-mounted device used by the indigenous people of Arrakis, the central planet where the “Dune” story takes place. The device in question is not a watch in the film, but at the time of the film’s release, Hamilton released to the public a replica of the prop that does have a timekeeping function. The watch model is called Hamilton Ventura XXL Bright Dune Limited Edition.
Vivian Stauffer, CEO of Hamilton, said that the chance to work on “Dune” was “both inspiring and challenging,” since her company was asked to design something that differed heavily from traditional watch aesthetics.
“When Denis Villeneuve and his team reached out to us, … we were very proud,” she said. “This underlines Hamilton’s standing as the watchmaker of filmmakers.”
Bulgarian fashion brand Demobaza took a similar approach, contributing looks that were worn in the film and also releasing a tie-in collection to the public. The latter features the type of flowing, desert-inspired silhouettes that are found in the movie.
Brands outside of fashion have collaborated with “Dune,” as well, including the automaker Nio, toy brands Lego and Monopoly, and the smart lighting brand Govee. But not every licensed “Dune” product has been a hit. A “Dune”-branded promotional popcorn bucket available at AMC Theaters went viral for the wrong reason — namely, its off-putting, somewhat lewd appearance. (Although, the bucket did eventually sell out.)
But some “Dune”-related collections weren’t official collaborations. For example, on March 2, streetwear brand Mnml released a collection with futuristic products and a desert-themed marketing campaign reminiscent of “Dune.” According to brand president Nick Bowersox, the alignment began as a happy accident.
“We knew we wanted it to be desert-themed when we started working on the collection a year ago,” Bowersox said. “We shot the campaign in the Imperial Sand Dunes outside of L.A. where they filmed movies like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ We were inspired by desert nomads and the various peoples who live in this harsh desert environment, which is the same thing that the ‘Dune’ designers were inspired by.”
It was only in the last few months that Bowersox realized the stars were aligning for the brand to release a desert-themed collection of retro-futuristic techwear just as “Dune” was releasing.
“There’s a shot we have of one of our models in this wide panorama with this horizon of sand, and it looks almost exactly like Dune promotional imagery,” he said.
Mnml started promoting the collection with callouts to “Dune” to its 1 million Instagram followers at the beginning of March. Commenters immediately picked up on the “Dune” connection. One comment, on a collection teaser post featuring a desert landscape, read, “Dune part 2 was fire lol.” A Mnml brand spokesperson declined to share early sales figures for the collection.
As for why this somewhat outré aesthetic is taking off right now, Bowersox said it has to do with two things. First, the imagery of “Dune” is striking and singular; the film has been universally praised for the costuming, visuals and overall art direction. And secondly, both “Dune” and the brands mimicking its aesthetics combine form and function in a way that’s resonating with consumers. Brands that focus on outdoor gear like Arc’teryx have seen their revenue grow by as much as 65% this year.
“Shooting in the desert is difficult,” Bowersox said. “It’s a harsh environment. But the costume designers for ‘Dune’ made clothes that look incredible but are also functional.”
