Closing out London Fashion Week on Monday, the luxury outerwear brand Moncler presented its latest “The Art of Genius” series of collaborations with a madcap evening of immersive live events. The night culminated with the unveiling of a Mercedes-Benz art piece. The sculpture on wheels, dubbed Project Mondo G, was revealed to be a G-Class SUV off-roader seemingly wrapped in a Moncler puffer coat, complete with a zipper on top.
Alicia Keys plays her iconic piano for Moncler’s “The Art of Genius.” Courtesy of Moncler.
Moncler’s fashion show-turned-technological extravaganza took over London’s Olympia venue and drew a crowd of 10,000 people. Alicia Keys kicked off the festivities with a nearly hour-long live set of her greatest hits. The uplifting performance also served as a preview of Keys’s own Moncler pairing; her backup dancers were spotted in pieces from her upcoming collection. Other participants who introduced Genius collaborations included Pharrell Williams, Palm Angels, FRGMT, Adidas Originals, Salehe Bembury, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and Rick Owens.
Pharrell Williams attends Moncler’s “The Art of Genius” exhibition on February 20, 2023, in London. (Photo: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
Pharrell Williams—sporting a picnic blanket doubling as a cape on the red carpet—delivered a high-tech, outdoorsy collection around the notion of ‘glamping.’ Elsewhere, FRGMT designer Hiroshi Fujiwara employed animatronic baby robots to model his collection. For Roc Nation, Jay-Z outfitted his space with dozens of speakers allowing guests to contribute vocals, which were musically engineered in real time by award-winning producer Mike Dean.
Producer Mike Dean mixing sounds in Roc Nation by Jay-Z’s installation. Courtesy of Moncler.
For his “The Art of Design” installation, Rick Owens showcased sleeping pods in which theoretical travelers would slumber while wearing his bubble-inspired designs. Owens’s exhibition space turned into an outdoor dance floor, where a roster of DJs played, carrying the festivities well into the night.
A model and baby robot present FRGMT’s collaboration with Moncler. Courtesy of Moncler.
Moncler first introduced its “Genius” series of collaborations in 2018 as an experimental platform for outside designers to reinterpret its core DNA, particularly its wildly popular puffer coat. Or as Remo Ruffini, Chairman and CEO of Moncler, said, “Our ambition was to create and share new energy with ever new communities, while going beyond the conventions of the fashion sector and collaborating with extraordinary talents to create something totally new and unexpected.” The idea has taken off.
Moncler and Mercedes-Benz reveal Project Mondo G. Photo: Lukas Müller. Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.
