A conversation with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, featuring Lee Daniels, Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman, Marc Jacobs, Rem Koolhaas and Hunter Schafer. Moderated by Derek Blasberg

A freedom to transgress boundaries of convention is mirrored by the freedom of the body, its energy, delineated through fitted bodysuits in stretch jacquard-knit, representations of and substitutions for exposed skin. Emphasis on the body serves to highlight action, activity, further underscored by garments with a softness and inherent ease - the attitude of movement, transposed. Pleats and gathers animate dresses. Tailored suits express a universal classicism - paradoxically, vents allow glimpses of the body, unconstrained. Physical freedom reflects an ideology.

Clothes are translated from one intent to another - ornament can become functional, the pragmatic can become decorative. There is a shift between their essential languages. The obvious is re-engineered, so evening-gowns become utilitarian jumpsuits and tailored coats are proposed in bright color or executed in paillettes, transforming and mutating between antonymous purposes. Rectilinear wraps morph, their pure architecture transmuting into the foundation for new forms of outerwear. Executed in re-nylon and jacquard, faux fur and sequins, they retain a closing gesture - another action - symbiotically symbolic of protection, and of grace.

Materiality permits contradiction. Traditionally gendered fabrics are recontextualized. Embellishment is structural, economical, and combinations and juxtapositions of surfaces evoke a tension. This is mirrored by the multitextural environment that envelops the models. They move between spaces within an interior landscape, voids of faux fur and marble by Rem Koolhaas and AMO, against an original soundscape created by Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman. The connotation of these insistent combinations is to challenge divisions between purpose and intention. They are tangible expression of differences brought together in one, to represent a freedom.

With the aim of giving new life to installations’ components and promoting up-cycling, the Prada Group has committed to collecting and distributing materials used in its fashion shows set ups to third parties, starting from the Prada Fall Winter 2021 Men’s show. The initiative included selecting the best global partners dedicated to collection and waste recovery near the Group’s event locations, and with a mission to offer materials to professionals and students for different re-use purposes, such as Spazio Meta in Milan and La Réserve Des Arts in Paris.

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