In January 2018, reflecting on her Autumn/Winter 2018-19 menswear collection, Miuccia Prada remarked: "Some people say beauty will save the world. I think the world will be saved by intelligence, humanity, and generosity. And possibly love. But of course, aesthetics can help (…) if you can afford it."
Seven years and a global pandemic later, Prada and her co-designer Raf Simons, are betting on a potent blend of savage elegance and raw instinct to lead us forward. This was the vibe at yesterday's runway show for the house's A/W 25 menswear collection.
Held at Fondazione Prada's Deposito in Milan, the collection unfolded within a new set designed by AMO, where a bold scaffolding structure took center stage.
In the history of fashion scaffolding often made an appearance during runway shows, from William Klein's iconic scene in Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966) with a primitive wooden frame used as uncomfortable seating for fashion editors in the opening catwalk show, to Miu Miu's A/W 2016 collection, where a metal scaffold evoked the gritty allure of a nightclub scene.
Prada's towering, rickety scaffolding, which divided the space into varying levels, blended the discomfort of a precarious structure (an indirect metaphor for the state of the contemporary fashion industry?) with the idea of a nightclub, with a brutalist twist added through the concrete benches. The industrial metal framework clashed strikingly with the refined elegance of an Art Nouveau carpet, designed by Catherine Martin.
This contrast was palpable throughout the entire collection. Faux fur collars, primitive in their appearance, adorned tailored coats worn over bare chests, while faux fur vests paired with formal trousers accentuated the collection's primal undertones.
Cowboy boots were sometimes embellished with dangling metal anchors or covered in floral prints that called to mind the kitschy charm of a vintage tablecloth. These were often matched with pyjama-inspired bottoms, while tartan coats, at times, resembled dressing gowns.
Weathered, battered bags gave the impression of a lived-in, almost worn-out aesthetic. In essence, Prada's classic uniform was shaken up in favor of a more casual, mismatched approach (see also the layered puffer jackets) perhaps reflecting the fractures and clashes of our tumultuous times. Or maybe it was a subtle reaction to a world in turmoil, with the rise of the far-right in Europe and Donald Trump making a comeback in the US.
Knitwear was adorned with metal jewelry pieces, dangling from necklines as if they were amulets, though the chains held no apotropaic significance.
Other jewelry pieces were whimsically eccentric: bracelets featuring spherical elements that looked like tennis balls, earrings (just one, never two) seemed to be shaped like basketballs, and a necklace had a rugby ball-shaped pendant, pieces that were oddly out of place in a collection that didn't emphasize sport and that therefore created another contrast.
Vintage-inspired floral prints appeared on hoods and form-fitting tops (that may have been found in a charity shop...), while the collection's cowboy boots (at times cut at the ankle), fringed sweaters, and jumpers with slanted, arrow-detailed pockets, recalled Western shirts and themes from Miu Miu’s 2016 collection.
Simultaneously, they nodded to Raf Simons' affinity for Americana, a love that was further underscored by his acknowledgment of David Lynch's films as a key influence.
The designers aimed to evoke a spontaneous, romantic style through a series of unpremeditated contrasts that played with the boundaries of the formal and the domestic, the elegant and the informal. This might not feel entirely new, especially when considering Miuccia Prada's signature "ugly chic" aesthetic. However, in this instance, Prada and Simons sought to celebrate human creativity in an era increasingly dominated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This theme, unpredictability as a rebellion against predictable algorithms, was already evident in the S/S 25 womenswear collection, which offered a human remix of Prada's established themes, fused with '60s influences, particularly in glasses, visors, and hats that incorporated lenses.
The menswear collection seemed to extend this narrative, particularly through its references to AI. However, while they do not state it clearly, Prada and Simons appear to reject the generative AI in fashion, which involves using text prompts to generate fashion designs, remixing images of existing designs, or altering a design's patterns or colors through AI platforms. After all, it is unlikely that Artificial Intelligence is not at play elsewhere within the Prada Group, in particular in less creative but more operational areas like streamlining orders.
The element of unpredictability seems central to Prada and Simons' philosophy and actually it may become a mantra also in other fields: after all, activists seeking to oppose Trump are exploring new strategies as mass protests no longer hold the same potency. Unpredictable forms of protests, from guerrilla art to urban interventions, may become the norm.
Will spontaneity save us? Well, only time will tell. But in the meantime, in a truly unpredictable fashion, let's hope that, once the womenswear collections wrap up in February (the men's runway set is usually reused for the women's shows), the Art Nouveau carpet from this runway will be repurposed and sold by the metre at affordable prices by those local platforms that specialize in collecting and reselling bits and bobs from runway sets. After all, it could very well be the most coveted piece from the collection, perhaps even more desirable than those designs with floral tablecloth-like prints.
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