Last weekend, to celebrate the launch of Moncler Grenoble’s ultra-chic SS24 collection, fashion cognoscenti descended on St. Moritz for a glitzy getaway packed with vegan fondue, designer puffers, and a supermodel-backed runway show that had Interview fashion director Dara and New York knitter Ella Emhoff dreaming of moving to the mountains. Below, the duo dish on celebrity sightings, snowshoeing, and the afterparty at a special little place called Dracula’s.
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DARA: Hi. Hi.
ELLA EMHOFF: Oh, I love your glasses.
DARA: Oh, thank you. I’m giving an at-home vibe today. How was your trip back?
EMHOFF: It was good. I didn’t sleep. I ended up just knitting the whole time and watching Star Wars. I also spent the whole trip traveling in tandem with Anne Hathaway. I went to the airport lounge and I was like, “Oh, hello.” Anne and her kids and her husband were just hanging out, having sparkling water. How was your trip back?
DARA: Mine was good. I slept the whole way. I love that you were traveling with Anne Hathaway, iconic front row guests of the Moncler fashion show. I loved her looks. I loved your ski looks too. We need to talk about the lilac ski suit.
EMHOFF: I didn’t know that I was such a purple girl. I felt like a fashionable Swiss kid. I had a full underlayer and I couldn’t even get the chance to wear the jacket and feel the full coziness because it was just so sunny. I think I ended up getting sunburnt.
DARA: Love.
EMHOFF: I was like, “Okay, at least I don’t have a goggle tan.”
DARA: For context, we had to take a chairlift up a mountain and then hike a long snowy trail with ski poles to get to this restaurant, which was—
EMHOFF: A good work out before the cashew fondue.
DARA: Yeah, the fondue was well-earned. We had to also hike into the runway show on a snow trail in the woods.
EMHOFF: I was like, “I’m going to fall.” [Laughs]
DARA: Yeah. But it was fab. There were beverages in thermoses, white puffer capes, white beanies, and ice sculptures.
EMHOFF: And then there was the silent disco aspect. As you walk through, you get your thermos of hot mulled wine, and then they give you the silent disco headphones that all sync up.
DARA: And light up.
EMHOFF: It was an opera.
DARA: With lasers in the trees.
EMHOFF: They set the scene very well, it was like an Aurora Borealis, spooky, and we all looked wild with all of our puffers with the white snow.
DARA: We were a marshmallow tribe.
EMHOFF: The way you made yours into a skirt, I screamed.
DARA: That was only in the hotel after. I didn’t wear it like that to the thing. I should have. Okay. Let’s talk about the looks. Do we have a favorite?
EMHOFF: Number 33 is one of my favorites because that knit technique is just so beautiful.
DARA: The knits were knitting. Emily Ratajkowski’s look was major.
EMHOFF: Yes. I thought the use of accessories was very good. The hats were so big and crazy, and I’m usually not a big furry boot girl, but I like this.
DARA: The mukluks are good. I like the color palette. White, gray, brown, navy. Top of red, a little mustard. Clean.
EMHOFF: It felt very wearable. I can see some fashionable people on the slopes and off the slopes in these looks.
DARA: It made me jealous. I was like, “I wish we were all wearing this whole time.” The proportions were all really cute.
EMHOFF: Yeah. As a non-snow person, there were a lot of things that I would definitely put into my day-to-day wardrobe, which I feel like with some snow-centric brands is hard.
DARA: Yeah. This was fashion.
EMHOFF: Also the casting, they said, “Top models.”
DARA: I know. I was like, “Yes, Andrés Velencoso, sexy hot heartthrob icon.” You got Mariacarla [Boscono]. Emily Ratajkowski. Victoria Ceretti.
EMHOFF: Taylor Hill, surprise.
DARA: Stella Maxwell.
EMHOFF: I saw her and I was like, “You’ve got a bob? When did that happen?”
DARA: Yeah, she was giving little pixie.
EMHOFF: It was cool. It felt like a real—
DARA: Fashion moment. Amelia Gray giving full knit was good too.
EMHOFF: Yeah, I thought the show was great, along with having fondued and skied before. It put the whole experience of being a chalet girl in context. How was the after party?
DARA: Oh, you didn’t go to Dracula’s?
EMHOFF: No, I had to wake up to basically go to the airport at 8:30. Was it Dracula themed?
DARA: Well, all the waiters were wearing these black jackets with red piping on them, which was really—
EMHOFF: Okay. That’s giving Dracula.
DARA: It looked like a ski chalet, but with disco balls hanging in the middle of it. And they taped our phones up.
EMHOFF: I love that.
DARA: Yeah. It was giving. Scandal was ensuing. Willow Smith gave an impromptu piano performance.
EMHOFF: Okay!
DARA: There were a lot of surprising people there. I saw Kate Moss at the pre-show drink thing. I saw Kate Moss in the cabin. It was really wild.
EMHOFF: I didn’t realize that the Moncler family was so expansive. I was sitting next to this Olympian named Gus at one point. A trick skier. I was like, “You just do such an extreme sport and I’m just here knitting. I love that.” That’s the duality of Moncler.
DARA: It’s for everyone. Okay, work. I feel like we hit all the hot topics.
EMHOFF: We got the juice. That summed up the trip.
DARA: Yeah. We were there for literally a day and a half. And now we’re back to our normal lives. Not in the fabulous Alps.
EMHOFF: No, I do miss waking up and opening my window and the fresh air.
DARA: Same. I’m going to move there.
EMHOFF: We need to set up Interview Switzerland and just have you posted up at a chalet reporting.
DARA: [Laughs] That sounds perfect.
