Jonathan Anderson is joining the Moncler Genius line up

Having launched back in 2018, Moncler has so far enlisted the likes of Craig Green, Simone Rocha, Pierpaolo Piccioli, and Hiroshi Fujiwara for its continuing Moncler Genius project. Each designer has been previously tasked with creating a unique capsule collection for the Italian apparel company, and now, the next creative to step up is Jonathan Anderson, of J.W. Anderson and Loewe.

With details of the collaboration still vague, the collection will debut on February 19, during Milan Fashion Week. 

Speaking in an interview with Vogue, Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s CEO, said that Anderson was chosen for his unique approach to design. “He is really different than the other players in the luxury industry,” Ruffini explained. “I asked him to be simple, easy to understand and to make a project for basically everyone — a unisex project. He’s able to talk with one jacket with men and with women, and — my feeling is — with the young generation and more mature customers.”

But as the Moncler Genius project welcomes Anderson, it also bids farewell to Pierpaolo Piccioli. Creative director at Valentino, Piccioli is moving on from the project after working on it for its past two iterations. With his final Moncler collection, he designed the iconic puffa-ball-gown worn by Ezra Miller.

Anderson has also told Vogue that he wishes to look back on his previous work and reimagine it in puffa form, coming up with the idea of an “inflated archive”.

“I came up with this idea ... where we would base some of the collection on shapes we had come up with and how they could be inflated — and really try to do something very wardrobe based with a huge amount of desirability.”

Ruffini has further explained that the mission of his collection will be about empowering customers to “build content and to talk to people around them” with his designs. Also this time round, Moncler is bringing on its first lifestyle brands as collaborators. Recruiting LVMH-owned luggage company Rimowa and Denmark electric bicycle company Mate.bike, will 2020 be the year of puffa suitcases and… puffa bikes (?) We doubt it, but stay tuned to find out.

Look back on Craig Green’s collaboration with Moncler above.