How the iPhone’s Designer Is Revolutionizing Outerwear With Moncler
Layering, it appears, was ripe for disruption. How else to explain the delightful, if seemingly out-of-left-field, collaboration that is LoveFrom, Moncler?
The unisex collection is a partnership between the luxury Italian outerwear brand and LoveFrom, a San Francisco and London-based creative collective co-founded by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive. It marks the first time that the English designer—who holds over 14,300 patents to his name and claims responsibility for the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad among other Apple greatest hits—has ventured into the outerwear category.
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Ive’s most famous tech creations arguably changed how we thought about buttons forever, and the same might be said of his Monclear team-up, too. The collection consists of a “core” down jacket and three outer “shells,” taking the form of a field jacket, a parka, and a poncho, respectively. Each shell attaches to the core via a magnetic, co-branded “Duo” button made from brass, aluminum and steel, designed to sound an audible “click” once the inner and outer layers are properly fastened.
While the Duo button may be the collection’s most visually (and auditorily) distinct feature, it’s far from its only innovation. Each LoveFrom, Moncler piece is entirely seamless, a quality made possible by manufacturing recycled nylon on oversized looms, so that every garment may be constructed by simply folding a single piece of fabric. In addition, the yarn-dyed nylon fabric—which is exclusive to the collaboration—has been “taslanised,” a treatment that utilizes compressed air to achieve a matte finish comparable to that of a natural fiber.
The exacting attention to detail continues in the collection’s packaging, which consists of a box made from a single piece of folded paper, mimicking the construction of the garments inside. Included within are miniature paper models of each piece in the collection, intended to show how every garment fits together. In case further guidance is needed, each piece is also boxed with a care instruction comic strip featuring not only Moncler’s long-running mascot Monduck, but also Montgomery, LoveFrom’s resident cartoon bear.
While Moncler is in a different category from earlier LoveFrom collaborators—a list that includes Ferrari and AirBnb—the partnership was born organically from a friendship between Ive and Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini.
“Jony and I were introduced through mutual friends, and from there, a natural conversation about creating something together unfolded,” Remo tells Robb Report. “It was, in a sense, a mutual fascination. What made this friendship so special was the chance to immerse ourselves in each other’s worlds, and to learn from a master of design like Jony.”
The collection, which represents the culmination of a long-running friendship between Ive and Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini, is available now for pre-order on Moncler’s website, with items expected to ship on October 10th. In addition, LoveFrom, Moncler will be “touring” select Moncler boutiques, beginning with the brand’s Paris Champs Elysées outpost on September 24th, and concluding with its London New Bond Street shop on December 5th. Stops in-between will include the Milano Galleria, New York City SoHo, Tokyo Ginza, Los Angeles Rodeo Drive, Shanghai Plaza and Hong Kong Canton Road Moncler stores.
As you may recall from the initial bafflement that greeted the first iPhone, it’s difficult to detect a world-changing piece of design at its arrival. But if we’re all getting dressed via magnetic buttons in a few years’ time, we’ll look back at LoveFrom, Moncler as the moment it all began.
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