Culture
THE MONCLER CITY OF GENIUS SHANGHAI WITH NIGEL SYLVESTER
24 October 2024To celebrate the launch of Moncler’s The City of Genius event in Shanghai, we visited the groundbreaking event with esteemed professional BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester.
Shanghai, 20th October, 2024, Moncler unveiled an immersive vision of creativity, culture and energy, closing Fashion Week with an awe-inspired live show experience: The City of Genius. The CSSC Pavillion, an expansive historic shipyard straddling the city’s iconic Huangpu River, was transformed into a living metropolis of creativity and innovation, bringing together local and global communities. Celebrating this, we visited the groundbreaking event alongside renowned BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester, seeing the occasion through his own lens.
The event consisted of 10 designer neighbourhoods, 10 unique experiences and 10 extraordinary collections, all united under The City of Genius experience. Echoing the boundless approach of Moncler Genius events, The City of Genius Palm Angels space took inspiration from the speed and glamour of motorsport, featuring an actual working kart track where a select few took part in driving around the circuit.
Following this, guests became transported into a futuristic mountain landscape celebrating The City of Genius by A$AP Rocky, showcasing his collection inspired by motorsport and biker influences. Think protective shoulder pads, ribbed panels, gauntlet gloves and helmet-inspired trapper hats. Guests were then invited to join Willow Smith in a post-apocalyptic garden, contrasting a dark atmosphere with a green gradient palette, representing healing, support and rebirth. The juxtaposition continued with the apparel: voluminous, sturdy outerwear paired with form-fitting dresses, creating pieces for both the mountains and the club.
Continuing an ongoing partnership with Rick Owens, Moncler invited guests to take in an atmospheric environment housed in an all-weather steel sanctuary, named the Rick Owens mountain ‘Refuge’. Offering a natural extension of their previous collaborative efforts, the space represented a low-consumption, off-grid shelter shrouded by graphic light, smoke and fog. It served as a metaphor for the collection, where Rick Owens subverted Moncler’s brand codes through oversized puffer jackets, sweeping robes and dramatic capes.
Following this, guests made their way into The City of Genius by Jil Sander: an infinite show displaying a loop of models, framed by 360-degree curved walls depicting the beauty of nature. With their debut collection, Lucie and Luke Meier explore the round and soft, informed by the volume and lightness of Moncler’s iconic down quilting and cocooning silhouettes. Jil Sander’s design language is merged with Moncler’s mountain heritage by exploring the relation between nature and humanity, reimagining natural textiles and materials – a shearling effect made of wool; paper feathers; organic-appearing volumes constructed from oversized loops of padded fabrics. The event was a representation of Moncler’s celebration of boundary-pushing innovation, showcasing the community and collaborative spirit at the brand’s very core.
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