Moncler unveils Craig Green genius collection

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 29, 2018

The latest of Moncler’s new breed of Genius designer collaborations was unveiled at the weekend with the debut of 5 - Moncler Craig Green making the most of the buzz around the up-and-coming British menswear specialist at present.

The functional and technical collection comes with extreme silhouettes that reflect his fascination with fantasy and experimentation. 

Following hot on the heels of the brand’s Pierpaolo Piccioli collab, Green clearly needed to make an impact and he’s done so with pieces that certainly don’t blend into the background. 

Moncler said that “ever the pragmatist, Green devised overblown, sculptural shapes built like sums of cubic elements that retain a sense of function, working solely with matte nylon and cotton. As radical as his sculptural down-filled forms appear, completely rewriting the dialogue between clothing and body, looking like flotation devices, or life-saving rafts, they are meant to be properly worn and used.”

Some might see them as too extreme for everyday wear but there’s no denying that such extreme pieces do raise awareness and help drive shoppers to other, more commercial pieces. 

Fashion Network observed with the earlier Simone Rocha Genius collection this month that customers were coo-ing over the hero flower-trimmed coat, but handing over their cash in larger numbers for the simple, lightly padded dresses and lower-key outerwear pieces.

That said, the practical element of all Moncler clothing means that, despite their oversized proportions, the Craig Green pieces are ultra-lightweight. “Padding is brought to the ultimate level, making pieces look gigantic yet still very light, as if they were filled with air,” the company said. And it added that “protection gets to the furthest, turning looks into soft contemporary armours, with hoods concealing faces. Amplified in their symbolic as well as functional presence, the garments resemble habitats: self-sufficient units to inhabit and live in under extreme conditions.”

The collection comes in “an uncompromising palette of white, black and midnight blue [with] black stitches [that] create pinstripe effects, landing a graphic touch.”

To celebrate the collection, Moncler also commissioned artist and photographer Dan Tobin Smith and set designer Nicola Yeoman, for an artwork exclusively conceived for the launch event at The House of Genius temporary store in Tokyo Aoyama on October 26. 

Starting from six letter designs, the artwork “is an artistic visual idea to represent the word and the world of Moncler Genius.”

Branded augmented reality content will also be unveiled through The House of Genius in Tokyo window visuals with consumers able to discover “a secret 3D multiverse behind each collection.”