Gucci casts Mariah Carey in its holiday campaign, a Harmony Korine film set in a hotel awaiting her arrival

Key Takeaways

• Gucci has released its 2026 holiday campaign starring Mariah Carey, with the film directed by Harmony Korine under artistic director Demna.

• The film follows hotel staff preparing a suite for Carey's arrival and uses her 1994 single All I Want for Christmas Is You.

• Carey wears pieces from Gucci's new Butterfly special collection, while a champagne dress she wears is valued at $19,500.

• The film went live on Gucci's YouTube channel on 2 November, and the gift edit covers Starlet, GG Marmont and Paparazzo bags.

The queen of Christmas has made her debut by feauting in Gucci's 2026 holiday campaign. The film, by Harmony Korine,  follows hotel staff in a mad dash to ready a suite while the iconic "All I Want for Christmas Is You" plays in the background. The film appeared on Gucci's YouTube channel on 2nd November, one day after Carey posted her annual "It's Time" video, so the singer who declares Christmas open every year was back on screen for a luxury house before most people had finished their Halloween sweets. Alongside it sit a special collection tied to one of Carey's best known motifs and a gift edit of familiar bags and shoes.

The film is set in a lavish hotel where a tree, wrapped packages, bulb ornaments and string lights create a winter setting, and Carey plays the guest of honour at a Christmas celebration while the staff race to finish before she arrives. Korine, whose films include Spring Breakers, Gummo and The Beach Bum, directs the cast that includes Bobby Brazier, Alla Kostromichova and Dongliang He, with styling by Dogi Nesanir and Demna credited as creative director.

Carey wears pieces from the new Butterfly special collection, which takes its cue from the iridescent wings of butterflies and draws on a motif closely tied to the singer, whose 1997 album was titled Butterfly. The collection includes handbags with purple crystal embellishments and a sparkling dress printed with butterfly wings, while one of her other looks, an asymmetrical champagne dress with crystals on one shoulder, is valued at $19,500. She also wears a coat from the Cruise 2027 collection that did not reach stores.

The wider gift edit is shot as a separate series of still life images, which moves the attention from Carey back to the objects themselves. It features the shimmering Starlet, the Gucci duffle, the GG Marmont and a soft suede Paparazzo, alongside GG Monogram boots, Horsebit loafers, Ace sneakers, Vittoria pumps, hats and scarves. Prices within the seasonal range include $1,350 for a crystal slide sandal, $3,550 for a Starlet crystal medium shoulder bag and $6,600 for a printed stretch jersey dress, so the Christmas stocking in question would need to be a large and well insured one.

Gucci's Mariah Carey campaign follows Demna's film-led debut, its 2024 Savoy chapters and a 6% sales fall

Carey's connection to the season rests on a single released in 1994 that took until 2019 to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and which became the chart's record holder with a 20th week at the top on the chart dated 20 December 2025, extending that record to 22 weeks on the chart dated 3 January 2026. Brands have been borrowing that association for years, since Walkers built its 2019 Christmas advert around Carey using her high note to win a bag of crisps from an elf, in a film marking the song's 25th anniversary. Sephora then reworked her "It's Time" video in 2025 with Billy Eichner as another troublesome elf, and her 2026 post carried a Sol de Janeiro partner hashtag, so Gucci's hotel staff can count themselves fortunate that they only have to prepare a suite.

The Gucci relationship is more recent and has been building through her wardrobe, since Carey wore the label's rounded-toe tall boots in Aspen in December 2025 and sat front row at the Cruise 2027 show in May. Building a star's own history into the clothes is a route that other fashion houses have taken recently, and it follows a similar approach to Moncler casting Cher and Grace Jones in its Re/Icons archive campaign, where each star's styling nods to her past through details such as Cher's yellow scarf.

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