From the Alps to Los Angeles: the story of Moncler Genius's latest collection

«The difference between Moncler and the other luxury brands is the start on the contrary: today luxury needs streetwear and functional. Moncler has in its heritage an iconic garment that is already functional and streetwear and around this has built a more fashionable reality».

These were the words with which Sergio Zambon, head of menswear of Moncler and designer of the men's collection 2 Moncler 1952, summarized the parable of the brand speaking to nss magazine. Born in Egypt to an Italian father and a Croatian mother, Sergio Zambon is the very definition of a cosmopolitan and eclectic designer. After studying at the European Design Institute in Rome, she worked twelve years for Fendi, simultaneously working as a consultant, working on the line of womenswear that bears her name and becoming head of menswear for Acne Studios. From 2015 onwards, Zambon worked for Moncler, of whom he was later appointed head of menswear. A few years later, in 2018, begun the dialogue between the brand and the most exciting names of the contemporary fashion scene, such as Matthew Williams, Craig Green, JW Anderson and Hiroshi Fujiwara – that gave life to Moncler's Genius Project as we know it today. 

The most recent collection of the Genius Project is 2 Moncler 1952, designed by Sergio Zambon and Veronica Leoni, who have curated the male and female sides respectively. For his Men's collection, Zambon drew as much from the imagination of youth subcultures as from the creative contribution of four different Los Angeles brands for a range of garments infused with a 1970s pop aura and iconic styles such as preppy, hippie and punk.

Libertine, UNDEFEATED, Balt Getty and AD. III collaborated with the eclectic designer to decline Moncler's iconic items according to a moodboard that evoked the relaxed and youthful spirit of the City of Angels, representing and reinterpreting the aesthetic codes of its subcultures.

Of the four brands chosen for this collaboration, Libertine has created rhinestone decorations of shirts and waistcoats that evoke the bohemian opulence of Sunset Boulevard, while UNDEFEATED (former collaborator of Moncler) has channeled the punk aesthetic of Downtown Los Angeles by revisiting the black nylon garments. Balt Getty, a brand founded by the eponymous actor and member of the Getty dynasty, has reworked the street-art side of the city with vibrant colorful fantasy and, finally, the street jewellery brand AD.III decorated some of the garments with real industrial-style metallic jewelry. The color palette is loosely combined with green and blue Prussia, rusty and black tones, with occasional flashes of pink and orange. Accessories also represent a collective re-enactment of styles and decades, alternating flat 70s sneakers, with boots, fur hats and practical duvet keepers.

To tell the creative process of the collection and its backstory, nss magazine interviewed the Sergio Zambon who talked about the evolution of the brand codes and the concept of autorship in fashion.

Inspired by Los Angeles and its brands for this collection, the Moncler DNA has been declined in a language designed for the new generations. Which brand codes had to change and which ones remained the same? 

The formula is actually that of the Paninari of San Babila, who from an iconic object of status of the bourgeois ski resorts invented one of the few Italian street movements, clearly with the Italian stamp of the status symbol: there were Moncler, Naj-oleari, Timberland... 

Of course, for 2 Moncler 1952 I updated the formula in our time with what I feel is the current style. It remains the iconic Moncler down jacket, revised in volumes, in colors as the Pop proposal made since the first season of the Moncler Genius Project, in 2018. 

Yours is the career of an eclectic designer, who has come into contact with very different realities. In designing this collection, what is the element that you consider your signature? 

The elements that I consider my signature are the attitude of the contemporary, laid-back and loose, the use of color in an unexpected way and references to art and music. 

Moncler Genius is a project born in the name of collaboration between creatives. Do you think that in fashion a designer's personal self-ing is a value to be preserved? And how?

Yes, I think autorship is a value to be preserved. I strongly believe in "Genius", but I also believe that sharing and the way we interact with others has definitely changed.