In March, the biggest news to hit the fashion industry in decades was somewhat overshadowed by the global pandemic. Mrs Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of Prada’s founder Mario Prada, has been the creative head of the iconic brand for decades. So it was a big deal when she announced that Raf Simons, formerly of Jil Sander, Dior and Calvin Klein, would be joining her as co-creative director. It was an earth-shattering announcement and an unprecedented piece of industry news. The Guardian described it as being like Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp teaming up to manage Barcelona, which pretty much sums it up its seismic resonance.
We were told the first collaborative collection would arrive in September, but that was before Covid-19 upended everything everywhere, so goodness knows what new plans have been cooked up in those hallowed Pradan halls over the past four months. Every major brand has had to pivot to digital and work out a way to express themselves without the platform of a runway show, or even the chance to invite people to an event.
Other heavyweights have shown their workings over the past few days, and today Prada unveiled its own lockdown creation: The Show That Never Happened, an 11-minute video of stitched-together vignettes by leading photographers, artists and filmmakers.
First was Willy Vanderperre, the unofficial photographer of the ‘Anwerp Six’ - a Belgian fashion collective of which Simons is a part – and an artist that works predominantly in black and white. Set to a horror-movie score of discordant strings, it offered a film-noir insight into the vibe of the new collection; a vibe that sticks very strongly to mantra of ‘less is more’. Prada’s house style – for men, at least – is one of boxy jackets, high lapels and skinny trousers. There is a workwear feel, but more the kind of workwear you’d find on a handsome factory lad in a Ingmar Bergman film. Very quickly, it is clear that for S/S '21, Prada has stuck to its guns, but in as sparse a way as possible.
Chapter Two comes courtesy of Juergen Teller, the German photographer known for his brash, lo-fi starkness. He placed models in some form of industrial engine room laden with huge pipes and pressure gauges. It was a colour production, but the monochrome of the clothing continued. Black suits, white shirts, black ties, and small black accessories. And lots of nylon – a fabric that few brands wield as stylishly as Prada. There was a Kraftwerk vibe, for sure. And it wasn’t unlike a very cool, very sparse school uniform, especially for the gals.
Chapter Three, by Joanna Piotrowska, was black and white once again, and saw models performing various snippets of interpretive dance. Lots of hand gestures and awkward stances. This is where new season leather pieces was first unveiled (I think), with the best in show being a pair of Velcro-closure derbies with the prerequisite chunky sole. Pradan work jackets were recreated in unlined, silks and cottons, too.
Chapter four was by Martine Syms, and the colour finally showed up. Green, mainly. Lots of dusty green wafting about in what looked like a mid-Century screening room. It felt like the gothic students from Chapter Two had graduated to film school. In the Sixties. In this scene we were treated to visions of the new knitwear, which came equipped with the very Prada oversize V-neck, both in jumpers and cardigans.
Finally, in American filmmaker Terence Nance’s Chapter Five, our gang of young and beautiful things had shifted their collective style to focus on Eighties tennis wear. All-white ensembles of polos, miniature shorts and socks pulled up out of tennis shoes. It looked to have been shot at the Fondazione Prada in Milan, but don’t quote us on that.
What the five films tell us – other than that Prada has an impeccable contact book when it comes to calling in creative talent – is that this summer might just be something of a fallow period. That’s not to say the clothing wasn’t cool or interesting – Sixties-style tailoring will be cool again, mark our words – but it was understated. Almost alarmingly so. Iconic Prada shapes have been stripped of nuance and rendered down to their purest form. We love it, and we think you will too, but this has the whiff of a calm before the storm.
Come September and the first Prada x Raf Simons show, we’ll know for sure.
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