Luxury Italian fashion and beauty house Gucci is the latest beauty brand to tap into gaming as it partners with styling app Drest to give players the chance to create and shop their own unique make-up looks.
First launch in 2019, Drest players adopt the role of fashion stylist, where they can participate in daily challenges inspired by the latest trends using products from an all-star line-up of prestige fashion brands, with Gucci one of the app's first partners alongside the likes of Gucci, Prada, Chloé, Burberry, Stella McCartney and more.
Now, Gucci Beauty is headlining the app's expansion into beauty with the launch of Beauty Mode, a new up-close feature that lets players put their make-up skills to the test on 'hyper-realistic' model avatars, working their virtual magic in new challenges that are said to be designed to reflect the luxury brand's unique aesthetic.
Coinciding with the launch of Gucci Beauty's first-ever eyeshadow palette, Palette Beauté Des Yeux Floral, users will be able to express their creativity using the palette's nine shades, alongside the brand's collection of lipsticks, eyeliners, mascaras, nail polishes and more as they compete beauty shoot and mood board challenges, while they will also be able to shop the looks they have created in real time with direct links to purchase the products.
Lucy Yeomans, a former Harper's Bazaar editor and founder of Drest, said: “As a magazine editor, I witnessed the power of beauty and its ability to influence fashion and vice versa.
“I love how beauty, like fashion, is a creative form of experimentation, discovery, and self-expression, which is why it belongs on Drest.”
To create the new Beauty Mode, the team at Drest used more than 4,000 close-up images of models as well as technical photoshoots to create realistic-looking avatars, said Yeomans, while celebrity make-up artist Mary Greenwell acted as a consultant to ensure each make-up item correctly matched skin tones and face shapes to create an immersive and engaging experience for players.
Tess Macleod Smith, Drest’s Managing Director, added: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Gucci for the ground-breaking launch of Beauty Mode on Drest.
“Gucci were our visionary partners in 2019 who recognised Drest as a highly creative, new global marketing platform to connect with new audiences via experiential gameplay and we have continued to innovate with them over the past 24 months.
“Beauty Mode is one of our most ambitious projects to date and our best interactive real-time story-telling in a new category which we know is hotly anticipated by our global audience.”
Gucci is the latest in an ever-growing line-up of major beauty players to enter the increasingly lucrative gaming arena, which this year has seen the likes of NYX and Charlotte Tilbury ink deals with leading esports organisations, while Soap and Glory took a step into the virtual reality arena with its Soap and Glory Land, challenging players to navigate unique challenges to unlock branded rewards.