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Balenciaga is the latest luxury brand to create an immersive experience for Apple’s mixed reality headset, and the first to bring its runway to Vision Pro.
Accessible through the new Balenciaga app, the first phase of the experience features multiple runway show videos, with the option to watch the Spring 2025 Shanghai show in various immersive scenarios or click through a carousel of lookbook images to jump to specific looks. The Shanghai show was filmed in 4K resolution with drone views and stereoscopic footage, with an eye toward a higher-resolution Vision Pro experience than the brand’s usual fashion show content. The app also includes music curated by the brand.
Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga
This is Vision Pro’s first luxury fashion app to feature a runway show. In April, Gucci released an app for the mixed reality device that added immersive interactive elements to a short documentary about new creative director Sabato de Sarno. (Gucci shares the same parent company as Balenciaga, so future learnings can be shared at a group level.) When the device began shipping in February this year (announced last June), retailers and brands such as Mytheresa, Elf Beauty, J Crew and Alo released virtual reality shopping experiences in partnership with virtual shopping technology company Obsess.
The Balenciaga app has future plans to add shows such as the recent Haute Couture presentation in Paris, add 3D high-resolution images of future runway looks, and allow users to shop Balenciaga ready-to-wear. For now, the show experience is limited to a large 2D screen, but as Vision Pro matures, features and immersive elements are expected to increase. The app was created in partnership with Atomic Digital Design, a design agency that has worked with Lacoste, L’Oréal Paris and Yves Saint Laurent Beauty on augmented reality experiences.
The app, released today, coincides with the launch of Vision Pro in France and several other countries. The headset costs $3,500 and until recently was only available in the U.S. This summer it became available in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, Australia, the U.K. and Canada.
Given Vision Pro’s higher price point, it’s a natural fit with the luxury fashion industry’s younger, tech-savvy customer base. In February, Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger told Vogue Business that the potential to attract new customers with Vision Pro was a key reason the e-retailer was eager to offer the shopping experience early on.
