Moncler to turn Shanghai into a ‘City of Genius’

What happened The collaborators for Moncler’s The City of Genius event on October 19, part of Shanghai Fashion Week’s schedule, were announced today. Consisting of a “metropolis of immersive experiences,” the show combines local culture and the brand’s trademark creative innovation via collaboration. Edward Enninful, Editorial Advisor at British Vogue and Global Creative and Cultural Advisor of Vogue, Fragment’s Hiroshi Fujiwara, music artist and actor Donald Glover, Mercedes-Benz by Nigo, Palm Angels, A$ap Rocky, and singer-songwriter Willow Smith have teamed up with the Italian maison for the event. The showcase will also feature exhibitions by the likes of Rick Owens and Jil Sander. In a bid to connect authentically with Shanghai, there are also local artists behind the Moncler Genius Promotion, with filmmaker Wing Shya creating a short movie starring global brand ambassador Leah Dou, while artist Xu Bing will connect the event, movie, and campaign through calligraphy. Set to be livestreamed on WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo, The City of Genius was inspired by a 1960s Nasa study that found 98% of five-year-olds test as creative geniuses, yet by adulthood that number decreased to just 2%. This finding is behind the Born Genius teaser campaign in which the Moncler geniuses are presented as five-year-old “muses of themselves.” The Jing Take Launched in 2001 and halted for three years over the Covid-19 pandemic, Shanghai Fashion Week will run for 10 days this year from October 9. And it seems like brands are finally investing in the city’s potential. From music artist A$ap Rocky boasting a growing fanbase in the mainland (#asaprocky is at 25.6 million reads on Xiaohongshu), to the celebration of homegrown national talent, and inclusion of APAC-beloved designer labels Rick Owens and Jil Sander, the event’s strategy is 360-degree and it is sure to leave a major impression on the market. Moncler already sits in a sweet spot in China, having reported that the wider region contributed 513 million euros ($563.5 million) to the group’s revenue for 2023, up 12% YoY. It’s a brand that local outerwear players like Bosideng are striving to level up to: on Xiaohongshu, #Moncler has 203.9 million reads and #MonclerGenius has 1.1 million. This China-first star-studded activation is set to see those figures swell. In 2024, luxury houses should be cultural hubs of collaboration, borrowing the expertise of artists and designers to sit at all corners of subcultures, and attain new heights of creative expression. Localizing this strategy to a variety of markets, like Moncler, is crucial to achieve loyalty worldwide. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Moncler to turn Shanghai into a ‘City of Genius’

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Published October 08, 2024

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Moncler to turn Shanghai into a ‘City of Genius’