An exhibition running September 9–13 revisits the brand’s New York moments, with a film narrated by Alicia Keys and a new Fifth Avenue flagship marking its next chapter.
In a public display of affection, from September 9 to 13, a city-wide exhibit culminating in Vanderbilt Hall reflects on the pioneering moments that shaped Moncler’s relationship with New York.
Moncler is taking its archive onto the streets of New York, bringing large-scale photography to public spaces across the city, including a dedicated exhibition at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall. The retrospective traces more than two decades of fashion presentations, campaigns and collaborations, exploring how the city has shaped the brand’s identity beyond the mountains.
The exhibition arrives as Moncler prepares to open its Fifth Avenue flagship, which the brand describes as its largest worldwide. Together, the two projects place New York at the centre of a story about alpine clothing becoming part of metropolitan life.
From Mountain Gear to City Spectacle
Some of the retrospective’s most striking moments come from Moncler Grenoble’s New York Fashion Week presentations, when familiar venues became stages for ambitious performances.
In 2010, 100 models in Moncler Grenoble climbed scaffolding at Chelsea Pier, turning the riverside setting into an urban mountain. A year later, 140 dancers performed a synchronised routine in Grand Central Terminal’s Main Concourse, bringing technical alpine clothing into the path of passing commuters.
The scale continued to grow. Professional skaters took over Central Park’s Wollman Rink in 2012, dressed in red, white and blue and accompanied by a live orchestra. In 2013, nearly 370 models wearing green formed a tiered “Inner Forest” inside Gotham Hall.
These presentations made movement and setting central to the clothes. That approach took another form at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2014, where Moncler combined 60 choristers with Swiss artists André and Michel Décosterd’s Pendulum Choir, an installation performed on hydraulic platforms.
The city’s architecture also became part of the brand’s imagery. For Moncler’s Fall/Winter 2014 campaign, Annie Leibovitz photographed model Simon Howell atop the Chrysler Building, drawing a visual connection between a mountain summit and Manhattan’s skyline.
Alongside those elaborate productions, the exhibition follows Moncler’s relationships with the people who shape New York’s cultural life.
Alicia Keys features through her 2023 collaboration, which drew on memories of growing up in the city during the 1990s. Oversized silhouettes, technical fabrics and bold colours, including her signature purple, brought a personal perspective to the collection. Keys also narrates the film accompanying the retrospective. Released on September 3, it revisits the brand’s New York history over her unreleased music.
Other images move between fashion, entertainment and everyday city style.
Sarah Jessica Parker appears in the couture-inspired puffer gown originally co-created with Pierpaolo Piccioli for Moncler Genius in 2019 and worn by the actor in 2023. Penn Badgley’s Spring 2025 campaign places the collection on the streets of SoHo, while Robert De Niro and Al Pacino share a New York rooftop in the 2025 Warmer Together campaign.
Photography’s role in the Moncler story extends to Art For Love, the 2015 project presented at the New York Public Library in support of amfAR. Curated by Fabien Baron, it invited 32 photographers to reinterpret the Maya jacket, with contributions including Brigitte Lacombe’s Studiocat and Camilla Åkrans’ A Surrealist Portrait with Flowers.
A New Fifth Avenue Chapter
The retrospective connects that archive to Moncler’s next retail opening. Located near Grand Central Terminal, the forthcoming Fifth Avenue flagship will also provide the setting for the unveiling of a second collection created with Jony Ive’s design collective, LoveFrom.
Across the exhibition, New York emerges as both a backdrop and a participant: its stations, rinks, rooftops and performance spaces have helped Moncler test how technical outerwear can function as fashion and spectacle. The new flagship gives that relationship a permanent address for its next phase.
Explore New York in Moncler on Moncler’s website.
Reporting based on Moncler’s press release distributed via Business Wire.
