What kind of puffery is this? The rise and rise of the puffer jacket

Earlier this year, the 21^st of February to be exact, Moncler, the Italian apparel and lifestyle brand label founded in 1952 and initially known for their skiing and mountaineering outerwear, and more recently, as a luxury activewear brand, unveiled a series of avant-garde puffer styles as part of their Moncler Genius project. Launched in 2018, the Moncler Genius collections sees the brand collaborate with prominent designers, who are invited to re-imagine Moncler’s jackets. Among the collections, there was a range of puffer dresses designed by Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, in collaboration with model, designer, actress and mental health advocate, Liya Kebede. This was Piccioli’s second Moncler Genius collection, having presented the first in October 2o18. Here, the puffer, perhaps one of the most egalitarian outerwear styles of the last three decades, was presented anew, reimagined as part of that most rarefied category of dresses, couture gowns.

Moncler Genius A/W 19, by Pierpaolo Piccioli. Image credit: Moncler

The first version of the puffer jacket was invented by American outdoorsman, author, and businessman, Eddie Bauer in 1936, out of necessity after nearly losing his life due to hypothermia. Over the following decades, the jacket affirmed its utilitarian status, and only very occasionally appeared in fashion collections, like designer Norma Kamali’s famous sleeping bag coat of the early 70s. At the same time, Moncler went about establishing themselves as the brand of choice for mountaineers. Later, in the early 80s, the puffer jacket was co-opted by Milanese youth who were part of a subcultural movement, known as the Paninari.

However, the puffer found its most successful entryway into the mainstream imagination when it became a key part of the 90s hip hop look, along with that other signifier of the kind of wealth and access that makes Alpine holidays in the snow a possibility, the ski goggles. Cue Brandy’s 1995 video for her single, Baby.

Here we see the singer, and dancers, in the middle of Times Square, NYC, dressed in puffer jackets and ski goggles, sans snowy mountain ranges. Two years earlier in 1993, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. name-dropped the style in his 1993 song,