“Effective, Warm, Concise”: Moncler Shares New Collaboration With Hyke

For the most recent edition of its esteemed Genius Project, Moncler has teamed up with Hyke: the cult Japanese clothing brand known for its understated practicality and clean, vintage-inspired designs. The collection – officially titled 4 Moncler Hyke – bills itself as “effective, warm and concise”, combining subtle historical references with forward-looking, technical innovation. 

Founded by Hideaki Yoshihara and Yukiko Ode in 2013, Hyke is primarily known for drawing its inspiration from vintage uniforms, reinterpreting their utilitarian details to create sleek, everyday designs. The Tokyo-born brand applied the same method to this collaboration, looking to some of Moncler’s early archive pieces, as well as to French mid-century workwear. The result is a series of sleek, streamlined silhouettes – set with teddy fleeces, pleated skirts and soft ribbed cardigans, and finished with puffers, hooded parkas and collarless coats (all lined with Moncler’s signature down blanket).

“We had the opportunity to borrow the Moncler archival 1960s Lionel Terray duvet coat, which really allowed us to study the silhouette and construction in order to develop [our] reinterpretation,” Yoshihara and Ode tell AnOther. “We also referenced French uniforms, being that Moncler originated in France, and we referenced a French Parka. Like the Duvet coat, we were able to translate the silhouette and design details to create HYKE’s own interpretation.”

The Moncler Genius Project, which launched in 2018, sees the brand team up with the world’s leading designers for a series of collaborations. In the past, this has included Simone Rocha, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Rimowa, who have all offered their own spin on the French fashion house’s luxury outerwear. The latest edition of the project – which will be slowly released over the next few months – includes capsule collections from JW Anderson, Craig Green and 1017 ALYX 9SM, with Hyke’s officially launched at the end of last month.

Yoshihara and Ode were approached for the collaboration in 2019, and begun the collection development in April 2020 – right in the heart of the pandemic. As a result, everything was done remotely. “We never had the opportunity to work in person with the Moncler team in Italy,” they say of the process. “So we had to be very thorough in communicating all of the design details, and would often meet via video conference to go over things.” Although there were concerns about shipping delays, the process ended up being fairly seamless: “It was much smoother than we had anticipated. It was actually a great experience to work remotely like this and know how much we could accomplish this way.”

The pair also acknowledge their ideological affinity to Moncler, as well as their enduring reverence for the brand. “The heritage, utility and innovation of Moncler are all creative similarities shared between [both of our brands],” they say. “Moncler was a pioneer in introducing the down jacket to the world, and the idea of being able to delve into Moncler’s archives and see first-hand the history and technical skills they developed over time was what really drew us to participate in the Moncler Genius project.”

View the full 4 Moncler Hyke collection on the official Moncler website.

Hair: Kiyoko Odo at Bryant Artists using AMIKA. Make-up: Laura Dominique at Streeters using MAC. Model: Georgia Palmer at IMG. Casting: Noah Shelley at Streeters. Digital tech: Tim Grant. Photographic assistants: Edward Boumier, Sebastian McCluskey and Hayleigh Longman. Styling assistant: Charlotte Harney. Hair assistant: Kyosuke Tanzawa. Production: Thea Charlesworth at TheArcade Production. Production assistants: Ash Thomas at TheArcade Production and Poppy Thorpe at Webber

This shoot appears in the Autumn/Winter 2021 issue of AnOther Magazine which is on sale now. Head here to purchase a copy.