Mary Katrantzou in AW18 Moose Knuckles outerwear collab

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 20, 2018

Canadian outerwear brand Moose Knuckles and London-based designer Mary Katrantzou teamed up for a surprise collaboration that was unveiled at Katrantzou’s AW18 runway presentation. 

The joint capsule collection blends the powerful prints for which the designer is known with a number of ultra-warm outerwear pieces with the companies saying it “brings a playful, imaginative and bold take on the ever brash, and controversial, style of the Canadian coat manufacturer.”

"Moose Knuckles allowed me to bring femininity and colour to the rugged world of technical outerwear,” Katrantzou said. “We translated the key narratives of the season into a variety of high-end coats interwoven with signature patterns and customised damasks to elevate outerwear beyond the everyday.”

It’s an interesting partnership given that it blends the style of a designer known for her occasionwear with a firm known for its ultra-functional pieces. Admittedly, Katrantzou has moved outside of her core area before - her athleisure collaboration with Adidas in late 2014 being the highest profile example of this.

For the Moose Knuckles collab, the companies said inspiration was drawn from “the preciousness of Victorian interiors and the radical lines of Bauhaus,” to create traditional bombers and parkas transformed with pointillist embroidery, leather tufts and velvet flocked damask. 

“Mary Katrantzou and I have a strong love of fashion which has made this process exciting and truly collaborative,” said the Canadian firm’s design director Tu Ly. “Together we have completely transformed Moose Knuckles’ signature jackets with Mary’s incredible selection of rich fabrications and exclusive custom prints designs.” 

The products will roll out this autumn at select stores internationally and while we don’t know what the marketing plan will be the company said the launch will come “with a Moose Knuckles obligatory big bang.”