Past Is Prologue: Mercedes-Benz x Moncler by NIGO - A New Chapter in Cultural Mythmaking.

In the canon of contemporary culture, collaborations are often fleeting. But sometimes, a union feels destined - as if the past had already written it into the future. The Mercedes-Benz x Moncler by NIGO project, unveiled in New York City on April 4, 2025, is one such destined convergence. It’s less a collaboration than a collision of legacies - where automotive engineering, alpine luxury, and streetwise nostalgia converge to compose a new myth for our times.

Three titans anchor this creative triad:

• Mercedes-Benz, the archetype of precision, heritage, and innovation in mobility. A brand that’s moved from merely manufacturing vehicles to curating experiences. Its G-Class SUV, once a utilitarian tool of terrain, has become a cultural object - equal parts warhorse and status symbol.

  
  

• Moncler, born in 1952 in the snowy recesses of Monestier-de-Clermont, is a master of metamorphosis. It began with functional alpine wear but climbed into cultural consciousness by merging form and function with fashion. Through its Moncler Genius platform, it continues to shape-shift with the times, collaborating with visionaries to stretch its identity.

  
  

• NIGO, a polymath of Japanese descent, moves through time like a cartographer of culture. From A Bathing Ape to Human Made, from producing beats to directing KENZO, NIGO doesn’t merely design - he curates memory. Each of his creations reverberates with echoes from American varsity jackets, Japanese craft, and 90s hip-hop - blending them into future-forward artifacts.

  
  

Together, these forces didn’t just launch a product; they composed a cultural symphony where past and future rhyme.

The G-Class as a Time Machine

At the center of this collaboration is the Mercedes-Benz G-Class Past II Future. Think of it as a mythic steed re-forged - equal parts relic and rover. Based on the latest G 450 d and G 500 models, its two-tone green and grey exterior mirrors a forest before a thunderstorm: grounded, wild, and elegant.

The interior features a checkered fabric - a tactile nod to varsity jackets and American nostalgia - while the rear spare wheel is embossed like a wax seal bearing the trio’s emblem. Limited to just 20 vehicles, this isn’t a car - it’s a talisman. It belongs not just on the road but in the pages of a design anthology.

To see one in motion is to glimpse a samurai blade cloaked in armor, slicing through time.

The Wardrobe: Memory as Material

The accompanying fashion collection reads like a cinematic cut from different decades - stitched into a seamless narrative. Here, puffer jackets merge Moncler’s alpine DNA with Mercedes-Benz’s modernity, and NIGO’s signature throwback sensibility.

Varsity silhouettes, chequered fabrics, padded vests - each piece is a cipher. These aren’t garments, but garments-as-memory. The Moncler Genius lens allows NIGO to move freely across eras, repurposing cultural references like a DJ sampling records. The result is a genderless, genreless wardrobe that carries the patina of nostalgia with the polish of futurism.

If the G-Class is a time-traveling vehicle, these clothes are the uniform for its passengers.

A Campaign Cast in Myth

The campaign, shot by Thibaut Grevet, frames the city as a mythic backdrop. Rooftops become runways; water towers stand like sentinels of memory. In the visual narrative, models inhabit the G-Class as if it were a sacred space - part spaceship, part clubhouse, part monument.

The short film Past Forward, directed by Theodor Guelat, adds a documentary texture. It follows NIGO as both designer and archaeologist - unearthing symbols, distilling histories, and reinterpreting silhouettes. The title is not incidental: it suggests that our way forward is through a reverence for where we’ve been. Nostalgia here isn’t a weakness; it’s a compass.

Even in miniature, the story resonates. The Hot Wheels x Mercedes-Benz Project G-Class Past II Future is a 1:64-scale sculpture - a toy as time capsule. Real rubber tires, full die-cast metal, and impossibly precise detail elevate it beyond collectible. It’s a pocket-sized myth, a totem for cultural disciples young and old.

The Meaning Beneath the Metal

In essence, this project is more than fashion and engineering - it’s about memory architecture. Mercedes-Benz offers motion, Moncler offers materiality, and NIGO offers meaning. In collaboration, they become cultural geomancers - mapping out a new terrain where legacy fuels innovation.

Here, the past is not a destination to revisit, but a foundation to build upon. And the future? It’s not something we chase - it’s something we wear, something we drive, something we remember forward.

To wear this collection is to speak in metaphor. To drive the G-Class Past II Future is to trace the outlines of a myth not yet fully written.

And perhaps, to paraphrase Shakespeare, the past is not just prologue.It’s prophecy.

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Words by AW.

Photos courtesy of Mercedes Benz.