Barneys New York Announces Martha Graham’s Mantle VR Experience
Barneys New York, the luxury specialty retailer, today announced its spring campaign, Mantle, a virtual reality experience with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. The iconic New York institutions have joined forces to create a virtual reality short film that blends fashion, technology and contemporary dance, premiering in Barneys New York stores in exclusive designer looks straight from the runway. The experience can be viewed in Barneys New York stores with Gear VR powered by Oculus, through the Samsung VR app, and online at Barneys.com, on March 6. Check out the VR experience!
“Barneys New York has always been centered around fashion and its role within culture,” said Matthew Mazzucca, creative director, Barneys New York. “By partnering with another iconic New York institution, the Martha Graham Dance Company, along with Samsung, we are proud to give our customers an immersive experience in our stores and on Barneys.com that fuses high design with art, performance, and technology. All of these elements are pillars of the experiences Barneys New York is known for.”
Filmed using 360-degree camera technology, Mantle tells a story through its four principal dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company, who embody character archetypes representing parts of the human psyche: Power, Ethereal, Possessed, and The Cleaner. Directed by Theo Stanley and choreographed by Cynthia Stanley, Mantle features a diverse cast of dancers, with the four principal dancers, as well as former company members ranging in age up into their 70s, many of whom have been with the group since the days of Graham herself.
The full cast of dancers brings the story to life in the modern designs of Prabal Gurung, The Row, Rick Owens, Loewe, and Craig Green. The wardrobe featured in the piece will be displayed in the windows at Barneys New York’s Madison Avenue flagship, as well as within the store at the virtual reality experience. Additional collaborators on Mantle include composer Sam Wagster, set designer Stefan Beckman, makeup artist James Kaliardos, and hairstylist Jeff Francis.
“Mantle offers an entirely new way to experience our world-class dancers and the creative legacy of the revolutionary artist Martha Graham,” said Janet Eilber, Artistic Director, Martha Graham Dance Company. “She would have been fascinated by this innovative collaboration with Barneys New York, which has brought together top creative minds to create an intriguing and magical immersive film.”
Starting March 6, Mantle will be on view at all Barneys New York stores, with its Madison Avenue, Downtown and Beverly Hills flagships offering an immersive virtual reality experience powered by Samsung Gear VR, putting viewers in the center of the performance. Customers can also experience Mantle at home through a Gear VR headset on the Samsung VR app, as well as 360-degree digital video and traditional video on and Barneys.
“No other medium can really envelop consumers into a brand universe and create brand affinity like virtual reality. We are thrilled that Barneys New York was inspired by our Gear VR technology and the immersive storytelling that VR can facilitate,” said Zach Overton, VP of Brand Experience, Samsung Electronics America. “At Samsung, we aim to create innovative partnerships, like our relationship with Barneys New York, to help brands reinvent how they connect with consumers.”
For more information, and to view Mantle, visit Barneys New York’s editorial site, The Window: http://thewindow.barneys.com/martha-graham-virtual-reality-film-mantle/
ABOUT BARNEYS NEW YORK
BARNEYS NEW YORK (Barneys) is a luxury specialty retailer renowned for having the most discerning edit from the world’s top designers, including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and gifts for the home. Barneys’ signature sense of wit and style is manifested in its creative advertising campaigns, original holiday themes, and celebrated window displays. Founded as a men’s retailer in 1923 in downtown Manhattan, it became an international arbiter of high style for both women and men in the 1970s, renowned for discovering and developing new and innovative design talent. Today, Barneys New York operates flagship stores uptown on Madison Avenue and downtown in Chelsea in New York City, as well as additional flagships in Beverly Hills, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, along with a preeminent luxury online store, Barneys.com, as well as 15 other stores and outlets across the United States. For more information about Barneys New York, please visit www.Barneys.com and explore its luxury content site, The Window, for an insider’s look into the Barneys world: a behind-the-scenes visit with exciting designers, fashion, events, and the Barneys team.
ABOUT MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the development of contemporary dance since its founding in 1926. Today, the Company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. With programs that unite the work of choreographers across time within a rich historical and thematic narrative, the Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.
Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received international acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Russia, and the Middle East. The Company has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids in Egypt and in the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens. In addition, the Company has also produced several award-winning films broadcast on PBS and around the world.
