Jony Ive on his LoveFrom Moncler outerwear collection

It’s a cloudy day in April and designer Jony Ive is in Milan. Dressed in a powder blue suit and aviator sunglasses, Apple’s former chief designer discusses the upcoming release of his latest project with Italian luxury outerwear brand Moncler. “A phone and a building are very different things,” says the designer, who knows it better than most: He has worked on the most defining objects of our generation, including the iPod, the iPhone and the MacBook, as well as the Apple Park Cupertino- Campus of the brand with Foster + Partners. “But if you are a good designer, you can design many different shapes.” What is important is the curiosity to go beyond the usual. “You have to realize that you still have so much to learn.”

Jony Ive on his LoveFrom modular jacket collection from Moncler

(Image credit: Photography by Gabriele Rosati, Fashion by Jason Hughes)

When I left Apple in 2019 after 27 years to co-found his creative collective LoveFrom with industrial designer Marc Newson, he had the opportunity to explore a number of new and different paths. Her first projects included redesigning a record player for audio brand Linn and developing electric cars for Ferrari. But this latest collaboration with Moncler, a modular jacket collection that can be paired with a single down-filled base layer, has allowed the London-born designer to explore a variety of new areas: fashion design, textile development and even… reinterpreting the humble button.

But how did Ive, a longtime Californian, and Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini, who lives in Milan and is from Lake Como, end up talking about coats? “We have a lot of mutual friends,” Ruffini says. “When we started talking, it wasn’t about business, it was just about life.” “Working together is an opportunity for us to learn about another world.”

(Image credit: Photography by Gabriele Rosati, Fashion by Jason Hughes)

Although this is LoveFrom’s first foray into fashion, Moncler has made a habit of collaborating with creatives from all disciplines. Recent collaboration partners have included rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation record label and luxury luggage brand Rimowa. But from the sounds of it, the partnership with Ive represented a new and exciting challenge for the brand. According to Ruffini, the four pieces in the collection took almost five years to develop. “It was quite a long process that we are not used to,” says Ruffini. “We normally release a collection every three months. But with this we really took our time to create something unique.”

The collection revolves around the Moncore base layer – a simple, collarless, hip-length jacket with a front zip – that can be worn alone or under one of three outer layers: a slightly longer field jacket with four patch pockets and a raised neckline; a parka that reaches mid-thigh; and a poncho with a fixed hood that can be stored in a kangaroo pocket with snap fasteners.

(Image credit: Photography by Gabriele Rosati, Fashion by Jason Hughes)

(Image credit: Photography by Gabriele Rosati, Fashion by Jason Hughes)

And while the design may seem simple – the pieces have a decidedly minimalist aesthetic – the complexity lies in the details. Each coat is made from a single strip of fabric that has been folded like a kimono to achieve its mostly seamless shape. Ruffini’s fabric developers had to look beyond their usual techniques when producing it: a typical bolt of fabric is made on a 1.5m loom, but the design required the fabric to be woven on a 2.2m version. “It’s a much larger loom than we’re used to,” Ruffini explains. “Typically they are not used for clothing, but rather for curtains and furniture upholstery.”