Pierpaolo Piccioli Elevates Outerwear for Moncler
Popular outerwear brand Moncler took Milan Fashion Week by storm last month with their “Moncler Genius” collection. The Genius label is Moncler’s way of revamping hypebeast culture, implementing a monthly collection “drop” structure in order to stay fresh in a culture dominated by social media and short attention spans.
Featuring a multitude of collaborations with designers such as Richard Quinn and Fragment’s Hiroshi Fujiwara, winter wear concepts were given creative and high concept twists. The clear crown jewels of this collection were the evening gowns by Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model and designer of the brand Lemlem, collaborated with Piccioli, contributing patterns from her brand. Fusing culture and couture for the nylon gowns, Piccioli lives up to the “Genius” designation. The silhouettes, capes and hoods evoke a diverse range of imagery, a perfect display of Piccioli’s sweeping elegance, Kebede’s cultural heritage and Moncler’s signature nylon.
Image via
Piccioli has recently been praised for his pledge to bring more diversity to fashion, publicly stating his desire to showcase and elevate Black beauty in particular. This collection further proves his commitment to inclusivity, as he not only tells but shows his love of culture, made especially significant by the fact that Milan is the fashion capital that lags behind its peers in diversity.
Kebede and Piccioli. Image via
I don't think that you can really do anything new today. But you can create new harmonies—new points of view and perspectives. Actually, I did this little collection while I was doing couture, while I was doing other things. And of course what I wanted to do is, through my own identity, interpret the worlds of Moncler. I felt I wanted to add the feeling of another perspective—specifically the Liya perspective. I think that inclusivity is not a just word; I really believe in the idea of working together in a way that gives you new points of view . . . and I was thinking that when couture was born it was not meant to be for black women. It was just for white women. Magazines like Jet were not even allowed to borrow clothes! So this collection is to show that the dream of couture should be allowed for everybody, and that’s why the idea of Liya worked so well.
- Pierpaolo Piccioli (quote via)
See the entire collection here:
Feature and gallery images all via.
