Trembled Blossoms

The original animated short "Trembled Blossoms" is the final feature of a body of work started Summer 2007 in conjunction with the design of the Women's Spring/Summer 08 collection. The ambitious project includes not only the fashion collection but fabric design, a fashion show environment, site specific murals, photographic sets and an animated film.

"Trembled Blossoms" is part of Prada's on-going commitment to experimental design. For the past years Miuccia Prada has commissioned temporary, architecture-specific wallpapers, environments, short animations, and interactive media for the Prada Epicenters in New York, Beverly Hills and Tokyo in collaboration with AMO, architect Rem Koolhaas's Rotterdam-based think tank; 2x4, a design studio in New York; and other designers, artists and programmers.

Miuccia Prada conceived a fantastical landscape that could work both as an environment and fabric concept. Working in collaboration with Michael Rock and Sung Kim of 2x4, scores of treatments were developed and put aside. 2x4 introduced James Jean, a young illustrator from LA, to the project, and together produced the prototypical designs for the Epicenters, the show space, and the special fabrics.

The inked drawings depict a lush, slightly scandalous, landscape of flowers and nymphs that evokes Miuccia Prada's vision blending suggestions of Art Nouveau, Liberty, Aubrey Beardsley, and Hieronymus Bosch.

"Trembled Blossoms" is the extension of the project into the film medium.

The animated short based on the wallpaper designs is directed by James Lima, produced by Hi! Production, Max Brun and the animation is by Sight Effects, LA. The goal was to create a classic animated film - from Hollywood's golden era of the 1930/1940's - employing modern animation and Motion Capture technology.

While the technology is cutting edge, the concept is essentially the same as classic animation in which artists drew over filmed footage of an actress dancing to create Snow White. For "Trembled Blossoms" the motions of a dancer playing the Nymph, outfitted with small tracking reflectors, are captured and recorded, then digitally superimposed onto the drawings. Great care was taken to capture the quality and spirit of the original drawings.

The film, which runs just over 4 minutes, was screened for the first time during New York fashion week at a private reception at the Broadway Epicenter on February 5th 2008.