Two decades together is like a marriage: Moncler marks 20 years in New York with a five-day retrospective, timed to open days before Moncler Fifth Avenue, its largest global flagship.
Moncler is using a citywide retrospective of its New York campaigns and events to frame the opening of its Fifth Avenue flagship, the largest store project in the brand’s history.
The retrospective, New York in Moncler, opened yesterday and runs through Sept. 13 across public spaces in Manhattan. It culminates in a dedicated installation inside Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall. Moncler describes it as one of the largest open-air public exhibitions the city has hosted.
Days after the exhibition ends, Moncler will open Moncler Fifth Avenue, its largest global flagship and a short walk from Grand Central Terminal. The retrospective gives the investment a two-decade narrative before a single customer walks through the door.
Beyond the physical show
A companion film, released Sept. 3 and narrated by Alicia Keys over unreleased music of her own, extends the New York story to audiences who will not see the physical exhibition. Keys has prior ties to the brand. Their 2023 collection drew on Keys’ memories of 1990s New York.
A two-decade arc, from landmarks to celebrity
The exhibition’s earliest work dates to 2010, when Moncler Grenoble turned Chelsea Pier into scaffolding-clad mountain terrain, with 100 models, for New York Fashion Week.
Subsequent editions moved the brand’s presentations into other recognizable interiors, including Grand Central Terminal’s Main Concourse in 2011 and Gotham Hall in 2013, before Annie Leibovitz photographed a model atop the Chrysler Building for a Fall/Winter campaign in 2014.
In 2015, the brand’s Art For Love project at the New York Public Library reinterpreted its Maya jacket through 32 photographers’ work, adding a philanthropic dimension beyond the brand’s usual runway presentations. Filmmaker Spike Lee attended a Hammerstein Ballroom presentation two years later.
More recent additions lean on celebrity rather than architecture. Sarah Jessica Parker wore a Moncler Genius puffer gown, originally designed with Pierpaolo Piccioli in 2019, that resurfaced in 2023. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino appeared together for the 2025 Warmer Together campaign, shot on New York rooftops.
The LoveFrom collaboration
The retrospective also highlights Moncler’s continuing relationship with LoveFrom, the design studio founded by Jony Ive. It coincides with a second collaborative collection released alongside the Fifth Avenue opening.
Moncler and Manhattan: the brand and the city
Since 2010, Moncler has built an association between technical alpine outerwear and Manhattan’s cultural landmarks, allowing a mountain sports brand to claim space in fashion, film and celebrity culture without giving up its performance credentials.
The Fifth Avenue store marks the point where years of brand building in New York become a permanent retail presence. The retrospective argues for continuity: Moncler and Manhattan have a long relationship behind them, and it continues.
