the art of waiting

it all sounded too great!
Moncler – one of my favourite brands
Genius – one of the best strategies in luxury fashion when originally launched
In London – the city I live in for only one year before leaving again
For free – unbelievable
For everyone – probably even more unbelievable than the fact, that it is for free.
An ultra-inclusive event to show off the newest iteration of Moncler’s Genius program was one of the best ideas of this year’s London Fashion Week. It lacked just one thing – execution. Therefore, the event, which was named after the strategy “The Art of Genius”, turned into “the Art of Waiting” …
…These are the unfiltered bullets I noted on Monday 20.02., 22:34. In this moment, Alicia Keys came on stage 34 mins late, adding to the 3 hours I had been queuing to enter the venue. Anyway, it was nice to see her perform and later bring local hero Little Simz out on stage.
Nevertheless, I was underwhelmed at this point. All the mess outside of the venue had tested my patience and I was simply annoyed. Now, over two weeks later, I had time to reflect and discuss with others about the unbelievable effort Moncler took to enable this inclusive, immersive experience.
Short recap: What was going on?
As part of London Fashion Week Moncler hosted “The Art of Genius” event.
Within the houses “Genius”-strategy Moncler creates collections with 8 collaborators per year – this time: Adidas Originals, Alicia Keys, FRGMT, Mercedes-Benz, Palm Angels, Pharrell Williams, Roc Nation and Salehe Bembury – long-time
collaborator Rick Owens was also part of the Event. Access to the event was possible through registering over a link on their website. These general release tickets were given to an estimated 10.000 people. Additionally, there was a Guestlist. The event took place in “Olympia”, an exhibition and event venue in west London.
My “The Art of Genius”-Experience was marked by Inclusivity, Immersion and Execution
Inclusivity – everyone was welcome
The event was open to everyone who registered. “Everyone” is not a term that luxury brands commonly use. By opening it to everyone, Moncler showed that they have understood the current luxury consumers, which are connected to the
mainstream (“everyone”) more than ever. Basically all consumers know and purchase luxury brands as individual styles are more mixed and matched than ever, and as knowledge is being democratized through social media.
One of the key purchasing motivators of these consumers is to associate to a community by purchasing themselves into it. Through the event Moncler tapped exactly that aspirational feeling of wanting to be part of their community. Influencers, TikTokers, musicians, athletes and other celebrities intertwined with all the registered attendees. Everyone was united as a community of those curious to find out more about the newest “Genius” iteration.
Immersion – Moncler creates their universe
Wow! The highlight of the event was the multisensorial sensation that Moncler offered this evening. A huge venue with 8 different booths resembling the 8 partnerships of the company. Each collaborator had their own digital advertising board showing the respective slogan and matching 3D generated Artworks. Every booth featured a carefully selected design and the differentiation between them was immense.
- Adidas Originals – The Art of Exploration
- Alicia Keys – The Art of Dreaming
- FRGMT – The Art of Love
- Mercedes-Benz – The Art of Imagination
- Palm Angels – The Art of Lightness
- Pharrell Williams – The Art of Terrain
- Roc Nation – The Art of All
- Salehe Bembury – The Art of Elements
Moncler invited us into a crazy and diverse universe. Alicia Keys united all the different worlds during her concert, before all attendees could return to the part of “The Art of Genius” they identified most with, or explore the one, that they were the most curious about.
The whole setup was extremely thoughtful; booth design and slogans made sense, each world was unique, yet they remained collectively coherent.
Execution – too many people for one night?
Well, if you arrived here, you read the introduction.
Queue management was a mess, honestly. Maybe I am too used to German & British queuing discipline, but this frustrated me a lot and I can’t be the only one. I arrived early to ensure entry at 19:30 (scheduled start). However, the line started moving at around 20:15 and dispersed shortly after – fences were moved, jumped over and people entered the queue left and right – at this point it turned into a crowd. To be fair there was not a lot of pushing and it remained an overall “civilized chaos”, nevertheless, there was a risk in the lack of crowd control by the organizer. There were just too many people for a too short entry slot.
For Moncler this probably didn’t really matter as there were going to be enough people inside to make Instagram stories, posts and TikToks. But there were surely also those that quietly queued and finally never had the ability to enter – through their lack of execution, Moncler excluded them from the community.
Inside the queuing and waiting did not stop. First for Alicia Keys and then at each of the individual booths. There was so much queuing that I was only able to attend 3 out of 8. There was just not any time left to attend more before they shut the event down.
I wonder what other options to the single evening Moncler considered. Could this event have been better if it were distributed over 2 days? Could it have been open throughout the entire day to ease entry?
Well, I assume it would certainly not have been possible considering the celebrity powerhouse the brand gathered in London. Furthermore, a single-evening event saves renting costs and creates more hype.
Overall, this setup made the most sense, to maintain the level of average attendees’ experience and the impact for Moncler.
Looking at the general reception, it was the right decision. Nevertheless, I think it is relevant to give insight into the frustration that overshadowed the whole event for me, and likely others.



Experience – Moncler, the innovator
Some things are worth the wait and all in all, The Art of Genius was one of them.
The free, inclusive, and immersive event addressed today’s luxury customers very well, with lots of stuff going on and the feeling of being part of something bigger than just clothing. Everyone was invited to join Moncler’s community and if everyone is coming, the party sometimes turns into somewhat of a chaos – some love it, some hate it.
Showing fashion wasn’t the focus, it was all about entering the different universes the brand is creating in the latest leg of their Genius strategy, which they keep on refining. Moncler is the most innovative among luxury players in terms of fashion week events. They are daring to go new ways in how they approach them: engaging and interactive.
Just like they keep on tweaking their strategy, I’m sure they will also keep on learning from the ups and downs of hosting such an event. I, for my part, hope to be able to attend the next one, to see how they will continue to innovate fashion weeks and improve execution.

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