Powerhouses Raf Simons and Prada Shine Bright in First Collection Together
Prada, Miuccia Prada’s family fashion house, and Dior, where Raf Simons served as co-creative director, have led the fashion industry with incredible spheres of influence created from high-quality design and celebrity enthusiasts. The two powerhouses held their first collaboration, the most-anticipated event of Milan Fashion Week, virtually on September 24 and it did not disappoint.
A few things I loved about the show:
The honesty and whimsy: The clothing designs were, for the most part, glowing, regal, inviting, wholesome, and the shoes, vinyl handbags, and backpacks were clean, playful, and cute.
Many bright patterns showed a combination of Prada’s colorful, classy design and Simon’s relaxed, playful aesthetic in a cohesive way. The collection hit some outstanding points softly, including kitten heels, well-styled knitwear, luminous fabric, and immaculate tailoring. The larger silhouettes were creative and understated, such as the standout layering v-necklines over turtlenecks. The zoomed-in camera lingered for a long time on the details of the patterning, which is truly where the collection shone brightest. Some Prada versions of Simon’s work at Calvin Klein felt unalluring but his oversized and elegant silhouettes were highlights.
The faces and lack thereof: Prada has continually thought about the relationship of technology to fashion. In an industry that chooses to become increasingly impersonalized and faced accusations of reducing its models to nothing more than human hangers, Prada debuted completely new models and introduced them to the industry inscribing their names on many small video screens from above for their entire walk.
The models weaved through a network of TV screens and cameras from above that stood in place of a human audience and turned just like the heads of the audience would. The network morphed and appeared like molecular or crystalline structures or an arachnoid organism. This contrast between the very human, familiar, kind tones of the room brought out the harshness and darkness of the camera-TV network.
Why Raf Simons signing onto Prada is huge:
Though co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons have been friends for decades and Raf has professed his admiration for Prada and their deep similarities, they have never collaborated before.
Even more similarly than their influence, Prada and Raf Simons have separately produced innovative, modern, artistic, and extremely forward-thinking collections pushing a message of personal style experimentation and have the same philosophy that fashion is intertwined with social issues and art in other mediums.
Together, they created a collection that was a measured, discoursive beginning rather than a bombshell that transformed the fashion industry, which they are fully capable of. I saw many soft highlights but no bold statements of purpose. Still, I appreciated two greats’ affirmation of Prada’s golden core and its continuation of unique and leading innovations.
All images courtesy of Prada.
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