Veronica Leoni joined the Genius crew as the womenswear designer for its 1952 collection in 2018. Since then this Jil Sander and Philo-era Celine alum has quietly advanced Moncler’s broader womenswear dialect by incorporating her sophisticated design sensibility with the puffer-centric codes of the house.
Downa Meets from Rome, she said: “The process from the beginning was about contamination. And if at first it was not my cup of tea, season after season I learned the technique… and I have to say this is probably the collection I have enjoyed most in terms of the technical work and exploration: I’m quite in love with it.”
Leoni added that this collection contained her “favorite puffer ever,” look 8’s coated white cotton, raw-edged, and hidden-button version of the paradigm. This was teamed with a camel mohair/cashmere bouclé skirt and hat which were amongst a suite of heavy-looking but cut for summer pieces that summed up her considered ambivalence to seasonality—something that has been refreshing in a brand so wedded to seasonal specifics. Other key puffer evolutions included the striped, fully fashioned rib knit cashmere jackets and the pieces crafted in deadstock jacquards sourced by Leoni and the 1952 team from Como-warehoused deadstock. Silhouettes were typically unlumpen, with cinched waist lines and volumized shoulders and sleeves adding an angular architectural element. Sadly not pictured were t-shirts featuring Miss Piggy and Animal that nodded gently back to her Fall ’21 collection for the house. “I have learned a lot here,” said Leoni. This learning will serve the advance of her own passion project, Quira, in the seasons ahead.