Style Check: Moncler's team-up with Katrantzou has us hot under the collar
Living in Hong Kong, you stop paying attention to the winter fashions required for temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius. Who wants to be thinking about wool layers when you're mopping up sweat from under your eyes?
"Talk to me when I'm north of the equator," is my general thinking. But this week a capsule collection by wunderkind designer Mary Katrantzou for Moncler had me wishing I had planned a holiday to the Alps instead of Mexico.
Katrantzou transforms the brand's signature quilted jacket into a winter wardrobe that would even entice Tilda Swinton's White Witch in , complete with yards of couture pleats, sculpted sleeves, nipped waists and kaleidoscopic digital prints. Unlike their authumn-winter 2013 women's collection, which was largely done in a white or icy blue/grey palette, this Moncler M capsule range was all dark, rich, sumptuous colours with plenty of black.
This is just the latest savvy move in recent years at Moncler.
If there is one high-fashion success story that has observers surprised and delighted, it is this outerwear label that now boasts stores in many European countries, the US and around Asia.
Few brands have turned themselves from a sportswear and down-jacket label into a regular feature on the high-fashion circuit, showing alongside Miu Miu and Céline.
Apart from being the choice for well-heeled crowds heading for the Chamonix or Whistler ski resorts, Moncler's financial success has been boosted by mainland obsessions. There's much love for those fur-lined, hooded, quilted puffas and vests, and plenty of knock-offs are seen on the streets for those who can't afford the real thing.
Frenchman René Ramillon launched the label in 1952 with a range of Alpine gear, such as sleeping bags and quilted ski jackets. But it was up to Italian Remo Ruffini, who bought it in 2003, to launch the brand into the world of high fashion.
Known for stylish and top-quality skiing, après ski and functional winter gear, in 2008, the label upped the stakes by hosting catwalks in Paris for their women's couture Moncler Gamme Rouge range and men's Moncler Gamme Bleu collections.
Having been popularised in urban settings during the 1980s, doing a couture collection was a whole new level, especially with designer Giambattista Valli at the helm. Gamme Bleu, on the other hand is designed by Thom Browne, perhaps one of the hottest men's designers today. No wonder the label's style stock has been on the sharp rise, with these two talents in place.
Even their catwalks have become the most fun at fashion week. Crowds of editors rush there, partly for the designs, but also for the sheer showmanship.
If you thought ski jackets might be boring, this brand makes you think again. At the last women's wear show, there were abseiling James Bond characters, while a Husky dog escaped from a model's side and ran around between rows of fashionistas.
Katrantzou's capsule is another step in the right direction - an unexpected collaboration with a young, fresh London-based designer on her own meteoric rise. Never have fashionistas hankered so much for zipped down jackets.
There has been a renewed interest in heritage and outerwear especially in the men's market, with brands such as Barbour and Belstaff making headway with high-end, urban ready-to-wear designs.
You wonder if in future, Moncler has the potential to go in the direction of Burberry or Aquascutum. Katrantzou's capsule has certainly stirred the possibility.
