Moncler Genius is actually rather dumb

Moncler Genius used to seem like a cool event. Now it comes across as a little dim. Matter of fact, more or less an unholy mess.

The concept was for a gang of cool designers to create capsule collections of about 10 looks which are then shown together in a series of tableaux in a large Milanese space. The initial results were some great inventive puffer jackets, especially from the likes of Pierpaolo Piccioli, Simone Rocha and Craig Green. And some commercial hits.

One Genius event was staged underneath railway lines leading into Milan’s Central Station, and was pretty impressive. However, Wednesday’s latest edition felt like a low-rent rock festival with thousands of fans bumping into each other in clouds of dry ice inside a giant murky factory the size of a football field. “Glaston-Moncler,” “No Moncler-bury!” several editors joked when discussing the soiree.

It may have been a moderately interesting experience if you were a pampered editor or influencer. But fans of the brands were forced to wait in endless queues in order to see any of the installations. Once inside, scores of Milanese lived out their Fellini fantasies shooting the tableaux in “tracking shots” with their mobiles phones, literally trampling over each other inside Rocha’s space. Bizarrely, the soundtrack to her video was Requiem in D Minor.

There were a few clever fashion art settings, most notably Green’s spacemen with covered faces in suits inflated by jets of air. Though, quite frankly, what a nightmare of a job for the models.

Even Anderson, currently the most admired designer in Europe, underperformed. His cast marched around in color-block down jackets and padded scarves like lost souls from one of Samuel Beckett’s tragic-comedies banging into inflated tree trunks to Vivaldi’s Spring.

Admittedly, the massive entrance scaffolding with hyper-sized LEDs which featured Rimowa’s new travel case was very eye-catching. Its new case called Reflection is a limited edition metallic wheelie with a shiny new mirrored surface, and its own mini LED screen. Its price tag is 2,100 euros; and its neon red text read as follows: "I want to breathe the mountain air.” Ironic, given the dry ice that engulfed all the guests.

Moncler bragged that this was its first foray into the experiential world. But, quite frankly, this was a grim struggle through a murky crowd, amid cacophonous sounds on a factory floor full of giant puddles. Genius? You must be kidding.

Moncler Genius is actually rather dumb

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