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, Party and Bullshit, referring to the gun under his puffer: “I used to have the…deuce deuce in my bubblegoose,” the latter being the preferred term for the jacket in 90s hip-hop, in reference to its exaggerated puffiness and its goose down filling. One of 1995’s biggest hip-hop hits, Feel me Flow by Naughty by Nature, sees rapper Treach in a puffer and goggles as well, however, this time around, it was an actual snowboarding scene. Bless. Then, for more goggles, there’s Big Pun’s cover art in 1998; for more puffer jacket references, 1998 also gave us Wyclef Jean’s song, Bubblegoose. As in: “You can be at the party gettin’ loose, but you can catch a bullet in your bubblegoose,” rapped Wyclef. The list goes on; examples of, and references to puffer jackets are everywhere in 90s hip-hop. The trend spread across numerous videos and into streetwear beyond the US. Even here, in balmy SA, hypebeasts donned ski goggles, this writer included. Sunny weather be damned.

Even as the impractical goggles trend faded along with the 90s, the quilted puffer jacket’s practical leanings kept it going for a while into the new millennium. It dropped its sleeves as sleeveless puffers filled up department store rails pre and post Y2k. It never lost favour with the snowy-mountain-climbing crowd either. It continued its existence under the runway fashion radar as a democratic winter staple through the early noughties, sometimes seen in bright colours on the backs of teens, sometimes on J-Lo, sometimes as a mid-thigh to knee length jacket worn by practical mums.

As hip hop continued its ascent to become the bona fide sound of a generation, and as the 90s slowly crept back into fashion as part of fashion’s favourite pastime, self-cannibalisation, once again the puffer asserted its place as a versatile and desirable fashion item. By 2016, quilted outerwear looks were appearing in several iterations across numerous runways, from DKNY to Raf Simons to McQueen. 2018 was a particularly good year for the bubblegoose as brands and retailers reported successful sales. See here and here.

Moncler Genius F/W 18, by Craig Green. Image credit: Moncler

ALC Man A/W 18. Image credit: SDR Photo

For the avant-garde set, there was London-based designer Craig Green’s F/W 18 collection as part the second Moncler Genius presentation last year. The looks which resembled floatation devices took the puffer look to a level far less practical, but undeniably instagrammable. Earlier in 2018, and a little bit closer to home, Durban-based label, ALC Man, presented variations on a puffy quilted kimono for the A/W 18 collections. And here we are, in 2019; a collection of couture bubblegoose gowns designed by Pierpaolo Piccioli and Liya Kebede is a thing that exists. Glorious. Have we reached peak puffery yet? ML