Moncler Genius debuts JW Anderson collaboration

JW Anderson has moved from London Fashion Week to Milan Fashion Week to debut his collaboration with Moncler as part of its Moncler Genius 2020 hub of creatives.

The capsule collection was unveiled within the third Moncler Genius presentation in Milan, which featured 12 different installations, 12 different concepts and 12 different visions, as part of the fashion house’s message of “one house, different voices”.

Jonathan Anderson, who joined the collective earlier this month, took top billing at the Moncler Genius presentation, showcasing his non-binary elegance, alongside Sergio Zambon and Veronica Leoni for 2 Moncler 1952, Sandro Mandrino for 3 Moncler Grenoble, Simone Rocha, Craig Green, Matthew Williams of 1017 ALYX 9SM, Fragment Hiroshi Fujiwara, Richard Quinn and Poldo Dog Couture.

For his debut collaboration with Moncler, Anderson offered a modern interpretation of masculinity and femininity, through a cross-pollination of menswear and womenswear, with architectural designs that defy “staid notions and gender barriers to propose a progressive, cleverly non-binary vision,” added Moncler.

Anderson has inflated pieces from the JW Anderson archive, such as a hat from his spring/summer 2015 womenswear collection and the ruffled men’s shorts with the knee-high boots from his autumn/winter 2014 menswear collection, alongside Moncler puffer coats featuring dots and spikes as decorations, which worked on the juxtapositions of matte and shiny and mixed nods to the countryside with notions of city dressing.

“The technicality and straightforwardness of Moncler are fascinating to me,” explained Anderson in a statement. “A down jacket needs to respond to a function, and I kept that in mind adding my own taste for blunt abstraction”.

Veronica Leoni, Simone Rocha and Craig Green showcase new collections for Moncler at Milan Fashion Week

Other fashion highlights from the presentation included Veronica Leoni interpreting the outerwear and outdoors attitude for Moncler 1952 (Woman) to showcase a new refined power of femininity that was both empowering and elegant with genderless tailoring that featured wools, devoré velvets, nylon twill, off-centre diamond quilting and knits resulting in pieces that showcased extreme layering of textures and three-dimensionality.

Explaining her collection, Leoni said: “Imagining an army of women on a quest for a lost paradise, I looked at the exoticism of the beginning of the XX century and interpreted it in a modern, intensely functional way.

“It’s all about femininity and elegance, with a twistedly practical angle. I am particularly proud of the collaboration with gender equality group Girl Up on a special item with the slogan: It’s Her Right.”

While Simone Rocha worked her signature romantic shapes in ways that were both dreamy and active, using tulle, the most ethereal of fabrics, for outerwear, distributing garden pansies, daisies and roses as embroideries, embossing and print, and letting frills swarm everywhere.

“This collection was originally inspired by Fellini, dance, and the fantasy of dress,” explained Rocha. “It is very much my interpretation of Moncler’s technical expertise, exploring fabrications and silhouettes but bringing it all under the female gaze in my idea of modern femininity.”

For Moncler Craig Green, the emerging designer merged his interest for the technical and the industrial with a daring and imaginative vision, as he worked solely with micro rip-stop nylon, a super-lightweight yet extremely sturdy fabric, as he focused on concepts of transparency, security and protection, devising boldly practical forms.

“There is a scientific aspect to Moncler that I find inspiring,” added Green. “I wanted to explore ways of pushing simplicity to the extreme and using the process of down filling almost like a print, building volumes around the body from flat items, from 2D to 3D. For me, Moncler is ultimately about protection and functionality.”

Richard Quinn also stood out with his bold luxe, “no-holds-barred, glamorously feisty, gloriously embellished vision that’s energetic and fearless”. The capsule collection of couture gowns featured bold prints, embroideries and bejewelled details, while shapes were svelte, with a ladylike shape, and all with a Moncler edge, right down to the stiletto-heeled duvet boots and the printed tote.

Explaining his vision, Quinn said: “I wanted to create a 60s meets space age dynamic, a transition from the past to the future in my signature prints that match and clash, with strong headpieces for a vibrant idea of total luxe.”

Moncler Genius steps beyond fashion with collaborations with Rimowa and Mate.Bike

This year Moncler Genius has entered a new phase “beyond the product embracing the world of experience while empowering personal communication and bringing connections and emotions from the digital domain to real life” with new collaborations with luggage brand Rimowa on a new travel concept and an electric bike with Danish start-up, Mate.Bike, created for the extreme terrain of the mountain and the snow, as the brand looks to explore other sectors beyond fashion.

For its Moncler Rimowa concept, the brand showcased technology, connectivity and communication in the digital age, with a special edition Moncler Rimowa ‘Reflection’ case that features an LED screen that invites travellers to broadcast their thoughts in real-time using a custom-built app, “bringing idioms of digital communication into the physical realm,” explained the brand.

Moncler Genius 2020 has also extended its “pioneering spirit” as an innovator of the outdoors by joining forces with Mate.Bike on a unique e-bike created for the extreme terrain of the mountain and the snow, equipped with a foldable duvet, which has been designed to test the boundaries of “conventional commuting and personal expression”.

There was also something for man’s best friend with the brand’s collaboration with Poldo Dog Couture, including the classic duvet dog vest in a variety of colours and made with nylon laqué. The reflective jacket has 100 percent silver film incorporated into a nylon jersey mesh to give a space-age aesthetic with a crinkled and ultra-lightweight finish. The size range runs from small breed to larger dogs.

Images: courtesy of Moncler