Moncler Genius Headed to London Fashion Week in February
MILAN — Moncler Genius is decamping to London next February.
The brand said Tuesday it has secured a slot at London Fashion Week on Feb. 20 to unveil its next round of collaborations.
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“London is a city where the world feels at home, it’s a global community championing diversity and creativity, and a natural destination for the next embodiment of Moncler Genius. The stage is set to give voice to a new roster of creative minds coming from all disciplines and spaces, each one expressing a distinct interpretation of the Moncler world,” the company said in a statement.
Moncler did not disclose the venue of the Genius event in the British capital nor the collaborators’ names, although Moncler chairman and chief executive officer Remo Ruffini had hinted at new developments during a Capital Markets Day last May saying Moncler Genius could also be about “art, music, movies, sports,” in addition to fashion.
The London move suggests renewed ambitions for the Moncler Genius project, following the recent focus on the Moncler and Grenoble brands, the latter focused on ski clothing and tech outerwear, and the acquisition last year of upscale street brand Stone Island.
Earlier this year, however, Ruffini’s decision to put a greater focus on those brands, and tweak the Moncler Genius strategy, was among the reasons the company’s shares fell by almost 6 percent in a single day in early May.
The brainchild of Ruffini, Moncler Genius was introduced in 2018 drawing a wide roaster of designers and creatives over the years including Richard Quinn and Matthew Williams of 1017 Alyx 9SM; Pierpaolo Piccioli; Simone Rocha; Craig Green; Fragment Hiroshi Fujiwara; Palm Angels’ Francesco Ragazzi, and Jonathan Anderson, as well as Rick Owens with a partnership in different veins than other Genius tie-ups.
The company has held one Genius event a year since 2018, usually in February, inviting designers to interpret the brand’s signature puffers with their own sensibility.
In 2021, the brand added a new layer to the experience by presenting its collections in September through a digital activation across five cities — New York, Milan, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul — and through the vision of 11 designers, in a single show hosted by 15-time Grammy Awards winner Alicia Keys.
This year, Moncler marked its 70th anniversary, kicking off a 70-day program of global celebrations with a performance in Milan’s landmark Piazza del Duomo at the tail end of the city’s fashion week in September.
As reported, February’s London Fashion Week is shaping up as a buzzy affair, and the Moncler Genius event is set to add further fuel. Running Feb. 17 to 23, the showcase is headlined by Burberry, with Daniel Lee’s debut for the house on Feb. 20.
