The artist is the label’s latest co-creator, imagining garments that merge street style with the city’s characteristic elegance

“Moncler and me go way back to when I was a little kid during those New York winters,” says Alicia Keys. “A Moncler was something you could see, but not quite reach yet. That high vision of excellence to strive for.”

The singer-songwriter is the latest in a string of innovators recruited to imagine personal collections for the Moncler Genius universe. Spanning design, entertainment, music, and culture, the co-creation platform is intent on pushing fashion’s boundaries forward, into the realm of interdisciplinary art.

For her collection, Keys harkens back to her hometown. “New York City’s peaks represent the intersection of hard work and big dreams,” reads a statement from Moncler. “Specifically, late-’90s Manhattan—a hotbed of hope, pre-millennial anticipation, and colorful street style.” Her designs feature the locale’s signature androgynous silhouettes—baggy trousers, hoodies, baseball caps, ankle boots, shrunken tees—in materials both protective and eye-catching: nylon, denim, and down, for the city’s colder months.

Keys is a figure emblematic of New York—the lyricist behind its unofficial anthem, “Empire State of Mind,” and now, its quintessential uniform. “[The collection is] a visual metaphor for striving, reaching, and surpassing your dreams,” Moncler goes on. “Keys and her community swing above the city’s skyscrapers.”

Last month, the artist brought New York’s energy to the streets of London, celebrating her Moncler collaboration at Fashion Week at the label’s Art of Genius event. Alongside Cleo Sol and Little Simz, she put on a live performance bookended with immersive exhibitions, donning her designs onstage and manifesting the city’s optimism and strength.

Here, Document shares Keys’s collection, modeled by the artist-designer herself. “I’m completely in love with everything we’ve made,” she reflects. “[It feels] like you’re here to be noticed, and that you’re not afraid of who you are.”

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