In normal times people working in the fashion industry would have been very busy with menswear fairs such as Pitti Uomo at the beginning of January. Milan's menswear shows would have followed, leading up to the couture runways and the womenswear collections. But, almost a year ago, Coronavirus radically changed the rhythms of the industry; fairs moved to digital platforms and shows also switched to other formats, with fashion houses promoting collections with livestream shows and films or more innovative ways including video games.
Prada's narrative also changed: Miuccia Prada announced Belgian designer Raf Simons was going to join the fashion label as co-creative director in February last year, just as the sudden Covid-19 outbreaks in Lombardy ended up paralysing the north of Italy.
Their first womenswear collection, unveiled in September 2020, debuted without an audience but was livestreamed and it was also followed by a creative conversation with Simons and Prada who answered selected questions submitted on Prada's site.
The formula proved refreshing for everybody involved: there were no more front rows, no more official press conferences or quick questions and conceptual explanations in the backstage where we all tried to read the most bizarre meanings in Miuccia's cryptic answers.
Prada and Simons' first menswear runway (A/W 21) was also livestreamed without an audience: the event took place yesterday afternoon and it was followed by a Q&A by students from selected institutions all over the world, including New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, Beijing's Tsinghua University, School of Architecture, Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College, the International Design School for Advanced Studies at Seoul's Hongik University and London's Central Saint Martins. It was refreshing hearing the questions coming from the students, but also seeing the two designers getting interested in their careers and asking them if they are enjoying their courses.
The dominating theme of this collection was the absence of a storyline and the focus instead on the desire to inspire sensations (the title of the collection was "Possible Feelings"). The collection featured one garment that was supposed to inspire such sensations - a pair of knitted and patterned long johns.
Most patterns came from the early 1900s and called to mind the stylised Art Deco graphics Prada has been consistently using in its collections that in the past echoed Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Alois Kunzfeld and Oskar Rainer's geometrical motifs, with some argyle patterns thrown in.
Patterns varied and so did the necklines of the long johns, but there was just one main purpose behind this garment - creating a warm body piece, something close to the body that hinted at intimacy, protection (a preoccupation of Prada that with the Coronavirus emergency in March last year started producing face masks and PPE in its Montone-based factory) and comfort and at a domestic, cozy and safe environment.
In other times such a design may have been considered out of fashion or as childish as the baby romper suit in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but, with the various lockdowns and smartworking, the design assumed in Prada and Simons' mind a new meaning, inspired by architecture. Apart from being a way to reconnect with domestic spaces, the garment was indeed conceived as a foundation.
The long johns were indeed matched with ample coats, oversized re-nylon bombers and parkas with jacquard linings, sculptural lapel-less peacoats, and cocooning leather or teddy bear coats. So long johns became versatile pieces that could be used to relax, or create a series of mix'n'match layered looks.
There was a balance between the two souls of this new Prada vision: styling (check out the coats and blazers worn with the sleeves shoved up over the elbow) was borrowed from Simons' S/S 21 runway, while the accessories such as the large backpacks, leather pouches and gloves with attached purses were definitely Prada. There was also another balance between the desire to create luxury, but also the need to provide a no-nonsense collection that spoke to consumers about calmness in very difficult times rather than about extreme fashion excesses.
Rem Koolhaas and AMO's set went well with the purpose of the collection: the interconnected rooms had floors or curved walls covered in different textures, such as soft and fluffy faux fur (the invitation was also a faux fur package with delicacies by the Prada owned Marchesi Pastry shop) juxtaposed with smooth marble floors and in a combination of clashing colours, such as purple, pink, red and pale green. These materials that will be upcycled within the fashion house spaces and pop-ups around the world and then donated to Meta, a circular economy project based in Milan, which offers sustainable solutions to waste disposal within ephemeral events by collecting and recovering materials for selling and rentals (Meta works in collaboration with La Réserve des arts, an association offering a service of collection and recovery of raw materials and decoration waste from fashion shows, making them available to professionals and students in the cultural sector).
This abstract yet cozy dimension was directly linked to an architectural group admired by Koolhaas, Superstudio. In 1968, Superstudio designed the "Bazaar" sofa for Giovanetti. The latter consisted in a series of modular question mark-shaped polyurethane foam armchairs covered in faux fur fabric that, combined together, formed a pumpkin-like structure, a cocooning environment that had a smooth and hard external surface made of polyester resin reinforced with glass fibers, but that featured inside a warm and soft nest-like space.
This bubble-like secluded shape from the late '60s was reinvented for the runway and extended to occupy the entire space that, from physical turned into an abstract location, maybe even a state of mind suspended in a lockdown phase. So, once again there was a sort of correspondence in this collection not just between fashion and architecture, but also between fashion and interior design, a link that Prada celebrated in previous collections, and there was a hint as well at the power of the tactile sense, something that we have forgotten because of Coronavirus restrictions.
Talking about Coronavirus, the dilemma remains at the end of this show: what will happen in a post-pandemic world to fashion weeks and in particular to Prada's presentations? Miuccia seems to like the new format chosen that has maybe prompted her to realise there's life beyond the front row and there are clever questions to answer from people who may not necessarily be your favourite influencers.
While probably the fashion industry can't wait to leave behind Covid-19 and go back to crowded events, the vast digital world may prove much more alluring not just for designers looking for new and younger consumers, but especially for people like Prada and Simons who seem to be able to unwind more in informal conversations like the one they had with the students than in official press conferences. In a nutshell, the pandemic may have broken the industry, but something better and more inclusive may come out of its ashes.
Comments