FIAT 500 BY GUCCI

What happens when you marry two Italian behemoths of design with the film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Only this video for Gucci’s makeover of a Fiat can tell you...

Video: "Fiat 500 by Gucci" by White Lodge, London.

White Lodge, London and director, Chris Sweeney joined the production line in this playful re-imagining of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Gucci’s makeover of the iconic Fiat 500. The fashion short was commissioned by online editorial, Nowness as part of a special video series to mark the marriage of the two icons of Italian design.

In the video, we see Gucci accessories like high heels and handbags transformed into a steering wheel, car exhaust and wheel rims by a vacuum-forming machine, with a spritz of the fashion house’s “Guilty” fragrance “for added sensory pleasure”.

Originally launched in 1957, the latest iteration of the classic vehicle has been specially customised by Gucci’s Creative Director Frida Giannini, who enhanced the Fiat 500’s distinguishing traits and added the fashion house’s signature red and green web down the side as well as the unmistakable “Guccissima” leather print on the seats.

Invited alongside visionaries such as Italian Vogue’s Franco Sozzani and Purple’s Olivier Zahm to dream up a film celebrating the partnership between the Italian automaker and fashion house, Sweeney created a giant plastic model kit of the Fiat 500 by Gucci like the ones he used to make as a child.

“We were initially asked to show the idea of two icons of Italian design coming together in an interesting way, and we were free to do whatever we liked which is always an exciting brief,” said director, Chris Sweeney to online magazine, One Point Four.

“I started thinking about industrialness of car design crossed with the very fashion, delicacy of Gucci and remembered Vac-Forming we used to do in Design Technology class at school – it was my obsession for about twenty minutes. I loved that this big ugly industrial machine could make something so intricate and delicate and it felt right for this.

“I also loved the idea of Fiat being ‘Guccied’ – how could you luxe-up a big oily exhaust? Or make an alloy wheel elegant? Then I thought about Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, which I used to watch on repeat as a kid (and maybe sing along to...) and thought this would be perfect: why don’t we make a fashion version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?”

White Lodge is part of Blink Productions and dedicated to creating content for fashion brands. Their previous collaborations have seen its directors work with marques including YSL, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Burberry. You may have seen their “Shades of Kenzo” for Kenzo on our Facebook page.

Video: "Shades of Kenzo" by White Lodge, London.