September 23, 2022 |
“Humanity, crudeness, the idea of this home,” said Mrs Prada of the SS23 collection she created with co-designer Raf Simons. “We talk a lot about reality,” she said whilst Simons mused on modern life lived though screens. He described how the pair became fixated on reality, evidenced by the wear and tear of much worn clothes.
Prada glorified that rumpled reality. The intimacy of the creases of well worn clothes were fetishised by the designers who engineered them into the elbows and bodies of garments. Even leather jackets looked as if they’d been pulled from a tightly pack suitcase. The slits on pencil skirts appeared to have been crudely ripped open to expose the lining beneath. Imperfections and flaws were elevated to haute heights.
Prada and Simons worked with acclaimed film director Nicolas Winding Refn to conceive an experience around the collection. His set featured black paper lined rooms, with doorways and windows simply torn out. Glimpses of his short films showing domestic scenes in the lives of women, could be seen through the windows.
On the catwalk, day and evening blur into each other. Pastel house coats and sheer negligees brought a shot of prettiness. Prints, on shift dresses looked like antique wallpaper ripped, in a sheet from a wall.
The Prada uniform – a poplin shirt – was fetishised and lionised, and turned into a onesie. It was worn on its own or under coats which the models clutched closed – a favourite gesture of Mrs Prada. The whole thing? Perfectly imperfect.
Photography courtesy of Prada.
