While watching a runway show, it sometimes happens to identify an item inspired, borrowed or stolen from another era, fashion show, collection or designer. After all, the history of fashion is cyclical, made up of occurrences and recurrences.
That déjà vu sensation must have washed over some fashion commentators and fans alike during Prada's A/W 22-23 menswear runway that took place yesterday in Milan at Fondazione Prada's Deposito venue, turned by architectural studio AMO into a sort of stage where theatre and cinema met.
Marking the end of a shortened edition of the Milanese menswear fashion week that, due to the Omicron variant spreading fast, caused some companies and brands to cancel shows for safety reasons (to ensure a stronger presence of exhibitors also Milan's Salone del Mobile was postponed from April to June 2022), the show was presented to socially distanced 200-plus guests, respecting the health safety protocols against Coronavirus in Italy, which meant FFP2 masks and proof of full vaccination (Super Green Pass).
The runway opened and closed very glamorously with two special models, actors Kyle MacLachlan and Jeff Goldblum. The former donned a sculptural executive coat that wouldn't look out pf place in Patrick Bateman's wardrobe if a new adaptation of "American Psycho" was ever done; the latter a dark, furry mohair hemmed and elbowed overcoat.
Other actors also appeared in the show – Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Asa Butterfield, Damson Idris, Tom Mercier, Jaden Michael, Louis Partridge, Ashton Sanders and Filippo Scotti – something that triggered that déjà vu sensation, calling to mind Prada's Autumn/Winter 2012-13 men's runway, that featured Willem Dafoe, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Jamie Bell and Adrien Brody, among the others.
Maybe this show was a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that runway or maybe it was a development of that collection: in that case Miuccia reminded us that men with power – temporal, political, social and sexual – dress to proclaim their position. In that collection power was expressed through the severe cut of the garments and of the double-breasted suits, the stiff high-collar shirts, luxury details such as astrakhan-collars, and through the layered look devised to project and protect the wearer's superiority.
In this case the narration changed: this collection, entitled "Body of Work", was actually about archetypes and job roles. The designs on the runway were indeed representations of uniforms from the Prada perspective, even though they were interpreted in luxurious ways.
Bombers were elongated and decorated with furry mohair trimmings; jumpsuits came in pink and blue nylon with conceptual prints and messages, while the comfortable knitted long johns from the A/W 21 collection were replaced by lightweight nylon, leather and cotton boiler suits or separates, maybe to highlight the end of smartworking and the return to work and to activities done in the outdoors. Matching separates cleverly styled with backpacks with white or gray/silver straps created the optical illusion of seeing the models wearing a high visibility garment and turned them into Prada bin men (View this photo).
Colours such as baby blue and pale pink, and blurred prints of human shadows and flowers revealed, though, that these were luxury items and not proper work uniforms. The outerwear offer was as usual strong with trench coats, parkas and oversized bombers accessorised with backpacks, gloves and triangle-shaped pocket belts.
Some leather trenches and coats in this catwalk show – the second physical one by Miuccia and her current co-creative director Raf Simons since he was hired in 2020 – featured a very exaggerated silhouette that means wearers will have to negotiate doors.
That was a bit of a faux pas actually as these silhouettes were too reminiscent of Demna Gvasalia's designs for Balenciaga (View this photo; mind you, Gvasalia's exaggerated silhouettes also point at Raf Simons' previous menswear collections, so maybe here you had Simons taking the piss out of Balenciaga?).
The main point of this collection, according to Miuccia Prada, was highlighting the importance of work. Workwear can indeed be elevated in her opinion and turned into something elegant that should make people feel important, hence the sculptural coats, mohair trimmings and couture suits.
For what regards the set, the déjà vu sensation extended to the futuristic tunnel that led backstage, a more technological sci-fi version of the red tunnel that led models in the S/S menswear collection film out onto a beach that was again a symbolical metaphor for a return to normality.
Normality may be around the corner if Omicron is the last stage of the Coronavirus pandemic that reshaped our lives and habits in the last two years. Yet, even if we return to a pre-pandemic life, we may never see a mechanic fix cars in a garage in Prada tech silk attire, well, unless Miuccia decides to open a Prada garage, which wouldn't be a bad idea seeing that she already has the uniforms.
So those of us mere mortals who may want a piece of this show, should maybe just forget luxury workwear and head in a few days' time to Spazio Meta, the Milanese recycling start-up that collects elements from runway show sets and resells them at very affordable prices – they usually have bits and pieces of Prada props and you could use them to redecorate your work space.
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