MARIAH CAREY FRONTS GUCCI GIFT IN A HARMONY KORINE FILM

Mariah Carey is the face of Gucci Gift 2026, a holiday film directed by Harmony Korine and set to her own "All I Want for Christmas Is You". Gucci released it as the start of its festive season, and it is the second time Korine has made the house's Christmas: the first was a cruise ship in 2019, and this one is a hotel.

Carey marks the season in a film built around the wait for her. Under Demna, Gucci has cast widely this year, from underground rap to Stray Kids, and Carey sits at the other end of that range.

Hotel Staff Race to Ready a Suite

The film is set in a hotel where staff rush to prepare a suite for Carey's arrival amid increasingly extravagant seasonal decorations, according to WWD and Variety. Variety's headline has Carey in fur and shades.

The clothes come from Gucci's new Butterfly collection, a name coverage ties to her 1997 album Butterfly, which puts the reference 29 years back. The campaign images, per WWD, also carry the gift selection: the Starlet, the Gucci duffle and the GG Marmont bags, and the Paparazzo in suede calfskin. Gucci's own caption credits the music to Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and its campaign page sits at gucci.com/GucciGift26.

Korine Booked a Ship Last Time

Korine's first Gucci Christmas came in 2019, when he photographed and directed the Gift Giving campaign for Alessandro Michele. It was set on a wintry cruise liner packed with an eclectic group of passengers, scored to "Little St Nick", written by Brian Wilson and Michael Love, and it came with an augmented reality portal in the Gucci app and on Snapchat plus an Instagram filter.

The two films share a plan. Both put a crowd inside one building and let the season happen around them, and both let Korine, the director of Spring Breakers, Gummo and The Beach Bum, treat a gift guide as a location shoot. What changed is the house behind the camera. The 2019 ship was Michele's. The 2026 hotel belongs to Demna Gvasalia, who showed his first Gucci runway collection on February 27, 2026.

A 32 Year Old Song Carries a New Gucci

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" came out in 1994, which makes the soundtrack 32 years old. Carey and Walter Afanasieff wrote it, and Gucci's credit line names both.

Gucci did not commission a new track for a new era. It picked the song that returns every November, and the caption frames the film as the start of the festive season.

Carey is also not a stranger to the house's rooms. WWD reports she sat front row at Gucci's Cruise 2027 presentation in May, held under Demna's creative direction. The film follows that seat.

Underground Rap, Then Stray Kids, Now Mariah

Demna's Gucci has been casting widely. In June 2026 Nettspend hosted a Gucci pop up in New York City, which fit Demna's strategy of rebuilding the brand through underground rap partnerships. Gucci brought Demna in after operating income fell 51 percent in 2024. Gucci also put Stray Kids' Lee Know in Tokyo for its Generation project, and a one word DRIP caption tied to the Primavera collection arrived as Kering reported Gucci's sales decline narrowing.

Those casting choices skew young and online. Mariah Carey does not. She is the oldest and most reliable name on the list, and the film points Gucci at the widest audience on that list. Gucci's Fall 2026 eyewear campaign, shot by Mark Seliger, whispered where this one sings.

Nostalgia was already in the room. Trouble Andrew's original Gucci Ghost chains from 2013 went on sale again through his own site in diamond and classic .925 silver days before the film, after the original mold was dug up. A 1994 song and a 2013 chain now share a week in Gucci's orbit.

Gift Lands at the End of a Crowded Gucci Year

The holiday film is the latest of many campaigns this year. Gucci put rubies on titanium poppies for a high jewelry collection that resets its Flora print, interlocking G logo and Horsebit hardware in gemstones, and it revived the Grace Kelly Flora for Monte Carlo. Each of those spoke to a collector. A Mariah Carey Christmas film speaks to anyone with a radio.

The 2019 film put Gucci on a ship with strangers, and the 2026 film puts it in a hotel waiting for one very specific guest. Korine shot both, seven years apart, and the song under the second one is 32 years old.