Moncler leads fashion forward with its Moncler Genius platform

Much was made of the latest Moncler Genius, which has been multiplying in size and scale since the programme’s launch in 2018. But while the extravaganza was the talk of the globe for its celebrity lineup, the brand is in fact spearheading a way forward in what has become a stale and formulaic fashion industry. Zaneta Cheng reports 

We are currently living through a moment when fashion shows are more akin to celebrity circuses, when attendees spend much of their time spotting clusters of camera flashes and running over to capture whichever K-pop or Thai-pop band or star the brand has managed to secure that given season. Imagine a real-life version of celebrity Pokémon Go instead of the catwalk shows of yore when journalists would sit and take in a collection, when clothes were the actual reason for the season. In that tradition, clothing presentations were sidelined – an afterthought to the 10-minute show, usually staged by larger and more established creative houses. 

But oh, how times have changed. Instead of the starkly lit bare spaces that once housed presentations, where clothes were draped cheerlessly on mannequins as if already on discount, presentations of today have slowly morphed into experiential universes offering touchpoints for the journalist, the buyer and the customer. And there’s perhaps no better example of this than Moncler’s recent extravaganza, The City of Genius. 

Built across 30,000 square feet, the one-night-and-one-night-only fever dream was held in Shanghai – Moncler’s fashion equivalent of Universal Studios. A cacophony of lights was ablaze every which way. Strobe lights in red and purple mixed with red and orange lights that were actually horizontally laid-down pillars that stretched across the entire space. The City of Genius even had its own traffic lights. Then came the “neighbourhoods”. Entire buildings were erected as monuments to the works of the 10 “geniuses” that were invited by Moncler for its Moncler Genius platform. Each neighbourhood was co-created by one of the puffer jacket retailer’s creative visionaries across music, film, fashion and cinema – all were asked to investigate the question: How do you live Genius? 

Inspired by a study conducted in the 1960s in which 98% of five-year-olds were classified as geniuses and only 2% of adults remained within this classification, Moncler Genius concluded that the ordeal of growing up strips one of their inherent genius. The aim of the project, therefore, is to prompt everyone to reconnect with this lost sense of childlike curiosity. At the Shanghai event, Moncler’s “geniuses” included Rick Owens, Jil Sander, Edward Enninful, Donald Glover, Hiroshi Fujiwara of FRGMT, A$AP Rocky, Willow Smith, Lulu Li, Palm Angels and Nigo, who also collaborated with Mercedes- Benz. Photographer Wing Shya, singer-songwriter Leah Dou and artist Xu Bing were also brought in as an ode to Chinese creativity, working on a campaign to capture Moncler Genius’s vision in relation to Shanghai. 

Jil Sander and Rick Owens each presented their collections in a way that resembled a traditional show, having models walk in a round, showcasing their reimagining of the puffer jacket brand. But because theirs were only two out of 10 different formats, in what was basically an amusement park, the catwalk shows became a fraction of the entire experience as guests were repeatedly immersed into the environments and universes created for The City of Genius by its different collaborators. Rick Owens had death metal blasting from the speakers in what was almost an underground bunker and platform-booted too-cool-for-school kids slouching in his pieces, while Luke and Lucie Meier of Jil Sander transformed the puffer into knits and gowns lined with down filling. 

Fujiwara, a longtime partner of Moncler Genius, presented his collection in the form of an installation. His space, co-designed with British artist and sculptor Richard Wilson, was an upside-down work of art with a large circular light in the middle from which his puffer jackets were hung. The watery floor reflected the light above, creating a meditative experience that guests walked around as the jackets ascended and descended from the ceiling. 

Stylist and erstwhile magazine editor Edward Enninful created distinct climate tableaus that saw models lounging languidly in harsh climates, from the desert to the tundra, and another model walking against turbo fans designed to simulate whipping winds – all to demonstrate the garment’s ability to withstand even the most extreme conditions. Donald Glover recreated the golden hues of his orange orchard Gilga Farm, which he runs in Ojai, California, bringing the warm oranges, beiges and reds of that American landscape into his collection, while Willow Smith’s overgrown wilderness was designed to transport audiences into a post-apocalyptic universe with a collection that drew in equal parts from PPE and utility. 

Across the way, Lulu Li’s collection featured a series of large and grandiose reinterpretations of the Moncler puffer in white, staged in a one-way-mirror room while A$AP Rocky built a mirrored semicircular stage in his neighbourhood that resembled a futuristic hideaway in the middle of the woods into which his models, dressed in colourful brights, stormed out. Palm Angels created a racecourse where the drivers wore the brand’s collab collection while Nigo presented a collection rooted in 1980s and ’90s aesthetics, as well as a puffer-covered G-Class for Mercedes-Benz. 

Of course, the star wattage at the event was so high, it could’ve blown the fuse boxes of every building along the Huangpu River. There was Rihanna, there to support A$AP, Naomi Campbell, Anne Hathaway and Canadian singer- songwriter Henry Lau, who performed a set to a roaring crowd in the city’s central performance area. 

There was food, not to mention extremely stylish hydration fridges throughout the repurposed shipyard. It was a mind-bending exercise in how a brand can harness its utilitarian function – that is, a puffer coat designed to keep one warm, with a somewhat lumpy and bulky reputation – and make it the coolest thing in fashion, while eschewing the usual hassles of creative directorship and seasonal shows. Instead, Moncler Genius managed to revive creativity, becoming a platform for the brightest visionaries, producing something new and redefining itself beyond just a symbol of wintertime luxury. 

Also see: Gift Guide Christmas 2024: Top fashion gifts and accessories to surprise your stylish loved ones