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“Shanghai, for me, is a very important city. And China has always been important for us not only for revenues but because of the culture here,” said Moncler s chairman and CEO Remo Ruffini during a press conference at Shanghai s Bvlgari Hotel on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before the latest chapter of Moncler’s Genius scheme was unveiled for the first time in Asia.
The choice of location may not be just about revenues, but surely those played a role. Asia now accounts for nearly half of the luxury brand’s sales, at 49 per cent in the first half of 2024. Amid a worldwide luxury downturn during which most luxury brands are faltering in China, Moncler’s sales were up 11 per cent in that period. Asia rose 12 per cent year-on-year.
“We have a very good team and a very good understanding of the Chinese consumer,” chief business strategy and global market officer Roberto Eggs told investors back in July. A sentiment underlined by Ruffini at Saturday’s conference: “In terms of service, in terms of experience, in terms of visual merchandising, in terms of everything, we have an incredibly strong local team that keeps on giving. So this City of Genius is firstly, of course, for our community, but also for the people who work in my company. I think they deserve something important from us.”
That goodwill translated into The City of Genius, which unfolded over a 30,000-square-metre structure that took over the CSSC Pavilion, a historic shipyard on the Huangpu River. The sprawling activation was organised into 10 designer pavilions, or neighbourhoods, each taken over by one of Moncler’s co-creators. Those co-creators had been tasked with creating Moncler collections as well as their showcases, based on the premise that we are all born Genius and uncreative behaviour is learned through growing up.
Think of it as a pumped-up Biennale that lasts only four hours, complete with a racing track installed by Palm Angels, a Jil Sander runway show and a “demountable mountain refuge” installation by Rick Owens (which will be available for purchase). All rounded up, of course, by iteration after iteration of Moncler puffers. The overwhelmingly star-studded designer line-up also included A$AP Rocky, Donald Glover, Willow Smith, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Lulu Li, Edward Enninful, Nigo, as well as Chinese artists Xu Bing, Wing Shya and Leah Dou.
More than 8,000 people attended the event, of which about 100 were foreign press and around 50 international talent flown in by the company especially for the event. Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Shu Qi, Nicholas Tse and Jada Smith were just some of the celebrities taking part in the festivities. The event was live streamed on WeChat, Douyin, RED and Weibo, with 57 million people across the globe having watched it live, according to a company representative.
Once attendees had taken in the different neighbourhoods, the crowd gathered at the centre of the expanse to enjoy a performance by Yue opera actress Chen Lijun. She was followed by artistic director Henry Lau, who played his greatest hits surrounded by dancers, musicians and a sound and light display designed exclusively for the event.
Bringing together global culture’s greatest minds, along with their communities, is no small feat. “In 2018, I stopped the fashion show, and I started Genius because the world was changing, and I realised I had to change my approach too,” said Ruffini. “We started with young designers, like Craig Green and Simone Rocha, then more mature designers like Pierpaolo Piccioli. And then I felt we had to move to other industries. In London in 2023, we had Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. It’s an evolution.”
It’s also obviously a massive investment based on a long-term, far-seeing strategy that goes way past the fact that the company’s now sorted for collections and content for the next year or so (each collection will be dropping in stores at different times throughout 2024 and 2025). “I always say Moncler must have energy all around it. And it’s people who bring the energy. It’s also important for us to talk with the world, with our communities,” added Ruffini. Investors can only hope this same energy is reflected in the company s earnings announcement next week.
As for the next edition? “I think it will be outside Asia to touch different cultures. It could be in the United States, for example, or another important country. I think this one is really the Genius for Asia.”
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