Moncler Reveals New Genius Collections, and a Rick Owens Tour Bus

First introduced two years ago, Moncler’s Genius initiative sees a selection of leading fashion designers invited to re-interpret the heritage brand’s house codes, taking its signatures – like the 1950s-conceived down puffa jacket – and imagining them anew. Aimed at a giving voice to personal creativity, the project can be distilled in the label’s mantra, “One House, Different Voices”.

Moncler Genius’ roster of designers is ever-evolving, and previous iterations of the line-up have included the likes of Pierpaolo Piccioli and Noir Kei Ninomiya. Last night in Milan, eight new Moncler Genius collections – from brands JW Anderson, 1952, Grenoble, Simone Rocha, Craig Green, 1017 Alyx 9SM, Fragment Hiroshi Fujiwara and Richard Quinn – and three accessories projects – by Poldo Dog Couture, Mate.Bike and Rimowa – were presented.

This season marks JW Anderson’s inaugural Moncler Genius collection, the brand’s involvement announced earlier this month; for this first offering, JW Anderson built a collection around the idea of “non-binary elegance”, playing with colour and texture in a series of padded and patterned jackets, bags and accessories. “The technicality and straightforwardness of Moncler are fascinating to me,” the Northern Irish designer commented. “A down jacket needs to respond to a function, and I kept that in mind adding my own taste for blunt abstraction.”

Moncler also revealed news of another anticipated collaboration this week – separate from its Genius project – with Rick Owens. Heralded by an Owens-branded tour bus that drove the designer and his wife Michèle Lamy through Milan this week, Moncler + Rick Owens is a ready-to-wear collection, Moncler having re-made Rick Owens pieces in its signature puffa down (Owens and Lamy wear the collection in an accompanying campaign). The bus – matte black with stark grey interiors – can also be custom-ordered later this year, as part of the collaboration.