Moncler’s Fall 2020 Ready-to-Wear collections debuted this week during Milan Fashion Week. The collections were featured in an ongoing collaborative show, called “Moncler Genius,” and were set in an abandoned warehouse. The location was repurposed to look like a techno music festival centered around futurism, which was the theme of the production’s collections and overall aesthetic. Eight full collections were premiered at the event, in addition to three accessory lines; one of which included a collection of space-age dogwear.
Richard Quinn’s take on 60s nostalgia at the Moncler Genius event. Photo: vogue.com
Interplanetary imagery was woven throughout the venue, from zero-gravity illusions with the models to a red planet runway. The last full collection, Moncler 8 Richard Quinn, drew upon vintage futurist aesthetics, with a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The production for Quinn’s show was a reference to the spaceship in Kubrick’s film and his designs were a gesture to the futurist fashions that appeared in the 1960s as a result of the Space Race competition.
The nostalgic take on futurism resulted in the reimagining of the designer’s signature prints. What were once garden flowers became “flower power” in this collection, with the addition of psychedelic aesthetics. Quinn also uncharacteristically devoted more than half of his collection to minidresses. One could easily imagine Twiggy hanging around Studio 54 in a full look from the collection, complete with a peacoat dress, matching circular bag and feather headpiece. Despite the departure from his identifiable designs, Quinn managed to stay recognizable by incorporating exaggerated A-line gowns into the collection that were styled with jewel-like and fabric face masks. He also integrated his signature oily latex, daisies, puffiness and fabric-as-flesh style into the collection.
Quinn’s unique style synthesized well with the 1960s aesthetics, despite the clear contrast between his signature silhouettes and the ones taken from the 60s. The collection is ideal for the artist-at-heart, who is looking for an adventure through their wardrobe - whose likelihood to buy one of these designs is charged by her penchant for general experimentation, and frequent trips to the Alps. Much like Giovanna Battaglia, who has been seen wearing the Piccioli version of a Moncler collaboration while en route to dinner - via ski lift. She’s a woman who is drawn to designs that are larger-than-life, because of the way unconventional silhouettes can transform the body into something beyond its normal shape. It’s this sentiment of redefinition that underlines the ultimate achievement of the collection, which was gaining a fresh perspective on designs, concepts, and shapes that we're already familiar with.
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