A runway show gives the audience a camera, a sequence and a duration. A space the audience can walk through gives away part of that control. I think that is the most interesting aspect of Balenciaga's Afterworld.
The browser experience presents the collection through a navigable world, with people and clothing placed inside it. The use of volumetric video adds a particular tension: recorded human appearance becomes something encountered in a space where the viewer can choose a route.
Clothing is a good subject for this experiment because it exists between object and performance. A garment has shape and material, but the way it looks also depends on posture and movement. A flat catalog image can present a carefully selected view. A spatial presentation invites inspection, and that changes what the representation needs to support.
The first design problem is attention. In a linear film, an edit can put a detail in front of everybody. In a navigable scene, a visitor may be looking elsewhere. Lighting, contrast, movement and the shape of the route must do some of the work normally done by the cut.
This does not mean every experience needs unrestricted movement. A carefully arranged path can preserve a rhythm while allowing local exploration. The visitor can approach an outfit, pause, and continue. Too much freedom can scatter attention before the collection has established any visual relationship between its pieces.
There is also a question of distance. A figure that looks convincing across a room may become less convincing when the camera gets close. Captured appearance can contain limits in detail, view coverage or temporal behavior. The environment can either expose those limits accidentally or arrange the encounter around what the material does well.
I would think about the transition between walking and inspecting. Moving around a world and studying fabric are different modes of attention. The interface should let the visitor slow down without fighting the controls. A useful close view may matter more than adding another large room.
Browser delivery makes this especially interesting. The first visit is part of the work: loading, learning the controls and finding a reason to continue. A dramatic opening scene has little value if a visitor cannot tell how to move or whether their device is still loading something. Clear feedback belongs in the art direction as much as in the engineering.
What I would avoid is treating navigation as an automatic improvement over film. A film can be exceptionally precise about rhythm and detail. A spatial experience earns its place when the visitor's choice of position changes their understanding, or when the act of approaching an object contributes to its meaning.
Afterworld suggests a useful question for product presentation: what does somebody learn by being allowed to move? If the answer is specific, the virtual space has a purpose. For clothing, that purpose might be the relationship between bodies, silhouettes and the environment around them.