On Friday afternoon, Remo Ruffini sat in the Hotel Jerome and explained why he had spent months planning a 15-minute event. The Moncler Grenoble Fall 2026 collection show was set to take place the following night on a mountain outside Aspen, Colorado, where temperatures were expected to hover around 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Guests would ride snowmobiles through the darkness to reach the venue. Ruffini, the chairman and CEO of the Moncler Group, had been captivated by Aspen’s cowboy heritage and wanted to incorporate that history into the collection.
| 📌 Key Facts |
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| ❄️ Collection: Moncler Grenoble Fall 2026 🤠 Creative Theme: Western heritage meets technical skiwear 🏔️ Location: Aspen, Colorado – mountain runway 🎬 Production Cost: Estimated €8-10 million 👢 Key Elements: Cowboy hats, yoked jackets, laser-cut fringe, technical wool 🎿 Categories: Performance skiwear & luxury après-ski 🇺🇸 Strategy: Accelerated expansion in the U.S. market 🏬 Retail: New Moncler Grenoble store opened in Aspen |
The Hotel Jerome opened in 1890, during Aspen’s silver boom era. After studying that period, Ruffini decided to focus on the silhouettes of the 1950s and 1960s, when the town was transforming into a ski destination. He envisioned cinched waists and rounded volumes that could be reinterpreted through Moncler’s technical lens. The result was a collection that felt less aggressive than previous Grenoble outings.
On Saturday night, a full moon illuminated The Meadow, a bowl-shaped area on the mountain. Approximately 400 guests, including Kevin Costner, Tessa Thompson, Orlando Bloom, Aubrey Plaza, and Maria Sharapova, received milk chocolate brown puffer capes, wool knit hats, and gloves upon check-in. The uniform look resembled what one journalist described as “a very chic UPS convention,” but warmth trumped style that evening.
Snowmobiles carried guests up the mountain through woods lit only by vehicle headlights, creating zigzagging patterns against the snow. Tiered seating faced a grove of backlit aspen trees atop a hill covered with artificial moguls. Hand warmers, blankets, and heated seat cushions awaited them. Warm chai tea, tequila, and sake were served in branded thermoses.
Models wearing all-white outfits emerged from the trees, nearly invisible against the snowy backdrop. A light show mimicking aspen leaves undulated across the landscape to classical music. Then came the collection itself, with models weaving between the snowy mounds to a soundtrack ranging from Western tunes to “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush and “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star.
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Yoked backs on jackets immediately signaled the cowboy theme. Piping appeared on sleeves and trouser legs. Laser-cut fringe decorated quilted jackets featuring newly developed mountain- and leaf-shaped quilting patterns. Most of the models wore cowboy hats.
Embroideries and intarsia depicted leaves, flowers, elk, arrows, and other country motifs. The fabric base was made of technical wool gabardine, wool denim, leather, waxed cotton, vintage corduroy, shearling, and wool alpaca. Natural tones of tan, cream, brown, and white dominated, with the occasional pop of red or pink.
The collection was split between slope-ready pieces and après-ski options. Offering off-slope versatility were wool tweed jackets and skirts, plaid flannel shirts for layering, leaf-embossed Japanese nylon skirts, and a printed cotton drill dress with a removable belt. The footwear selection featured technical ankle and knee-high boots, some of which were styled like cowboy boots.
At the after party at T Lazy 7 Ranch, which was reached via Sno-Cat, Tessa Thompson was still discussing the show. She chatted with Adrien Brody about which pieces they might wear to rehearsals for their Broadway debut in Fear of 13, which begins previews in March. “I used to think that winter clothes were too serious, practical, and focused on staying warm,” Thompson said. “But this was really beautiful, and the playfulness made winter clothes fun.”
Guests estimated that the Aspen spectacle cost between $8 million and $10 million. It reflected Moncler’s broader U.S. strategy. The Americas generated 379 million euros in sales for Moncler in 2024, out of total revenues of 2.7 billion euros. Overall group revenues, including Stone Island, totaled 3.1 billion euros.
On Friday, Ruffini opened the second Moncler Grenoble store worldwide, located on East Hyman Avenue across from the original Moncler location. The first Grenoble store opened in St. Moritz in 2024. The 2,700-square-foot Aspen store is housed in a building designed by Swiss studio Küchel Architects in the 1890s. Its cave-like entrance, made from 260 tons of crushed granite and white quartz from Switzerland’s Maggia Valley, evokes the company’s mountaineering heritage.
Later this year, Moncler will open its largest store globally, a 24,000-square-foot Manhattan flagship in the former FAO Schwarz building. The company currently operates 35 stores in the U.S. Ruffini acknowledged that brand awareness remains a challenge. “We are known, just not as well here,” he admitted. He added that owned stores help maintain pricing integrity, particularly in the face of retail challenges like the Saks Global bankruptcy.
Ruffini sees favorable post-pandemic trends, with more people eager to spend time outdoors. He believes that American ski resorts lag behind European destinations such as St. Moritz, Gstaad, and Courchevel in terms of luxury retail and hospitality. Aspen holds personal significance for Ruffini, who opened his first U.S. store there in 2008 after visiting the city several times. Former Gucci Group CEO Domenico De Sole urged him to open in Aspen before New York.
The weekend included skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and dinners with printed menus. Friday’s gala dinner took place at the Caribou Club, Aspen’s first members-only club established in 1990. The venue featured antler chandeliers, cowboy paintings, and tartan rugs. Ruffini wandered the room, greeting guests- many of whom spoke Italian- while lamenting his leg injury, which prevented him from skiing.
Orlando Bloom summed up the sentiment at the afterparty: “I don’t know if we’ll get to see things like that for much longer. “The production was insane, but the clothes… That was so much more than skiwear.”