THE JOURNAL
Seventy years ago this September, in the small Alpine village of Monestier-de-Clermont in south-eastern France, two local entrepreneurs, Messrs René Ramillon and Andrè Vincent, founded a small company making quilted sleeping bags for mountaineers. They named it Moncler, an abbreviation of their hometown. After sleeping bags came jackets – designed originally to keep workers in the factory warm – and the rest, as they say, is history.
That’s the abridged version, anyway. The full story of how a tiny, two-man-band Alpine outfitter came down from the mountains to become one of the biggest luxury outerwear labels in the world is longer and a lot more interesting, taking in everything from pioneering ascents in the Himalayas to Italian youth movements of the 1980s and haute couture.
As Moncler reaches this monumental milestone, it’s celebrating this rich heritage with Extraordinary Forever, a new campaign that delves into the brand’s photographic archives to revisit some of its most iconic moments. Sixteen photographs captured by just as many lenses across seven decades, they reflect the remarkable heritage of a brand that has transcended its mountaineering origins and successfully infiltrated the worlds of high fashion and youth culture. Here are just a few of them.
1954
Moncler’s now-famous “duvet” jackets pass their first serious test with flying colours when they are donned by Italian mountaineers Messrs Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli on the first ascent of K2, the second-highest mountain peak in the world.
Pictured: Italian mountaineer Mr Erich Abram and team, Karakorum.
Image courtesy of Tirol Archiv Museum
1986
Still little-known outside of the recreational skiing and mountaineering scenes, Moncler is thrust into the limelight when it sponsors and outfits the French downhill skiing team for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. This proud moment in the brand’s history is remembered today with the name of its technical skiwear range, Moncler Grenoble.
Pictured: the French male ski team at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, Grenoble
Image courtesy of Collection Mr Serge Mouraret, Alamy Stock Photo
1972
In a display of its expertise as a ski and mountaineering outfitter, Moncler begins a tradition of outfitting ski instructors in popular Alpine resorts. The quilted jackets are ideally suited to the demanding work conditions of the instructors, who are required to spend long days exposed to sub-zero temperatures.
Pictured: ski trainers, Alpe d’Huez, France
1986
Moncler is embraced by the Paninari, a youth movement that flourished in Milan during the 1980s. The brand’s primary-colour quilted jackets were a major part of the subculture’s signature look, and would typically be worn with blue jeans and Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
Pictured: cast of Mr Carlo Cotti’s We Love Simon Le Bon/Sposerò Simon Le Bon Duran biopic. Milan, Italy.
Photography by Mr Bruno Rukauer
2019
Moncler’s big shift into proper, high-concept fashion is marked by the Genius project, which invites big and emerging names from across the fashion industry to reinterpret the iconic quilted jacket. In the closing collection of the first series of collaborations, Mr Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino reimagines the quilted jacket as a collection of floor-length capes and dresses.
Photography by Mr Andrea Spotorno
Models: Mses Adut Akech, Akiima, Assa Myriam Baradji
2022
Moncler returns to its roots with Born To Protect, a campaign that makes clear its intention to shift towards a low-impact, circular business model. In the campaign’s lead image, shot by photojournalist Mr Alex Webb, the Moncler brand is barely visible against the mountainous backdrop.
Pictured: Moncler Born To Protect campaign, 2022.
Photography by Alex Webb