Pradasphere II
SHANGHAI
December 7, 2023 - January 21, 2024
The Start Museum 111 Ruining Road, Xuhui District
Free and open to the public at the following times: 10 am - 6 pm
Pradasphere II, a public exhibition tracing the history and culture of Prada from its origins in 1913 to the present day, is now open at the Start Museum in Shanghai, China. Told through a selection of stories curated by co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the exhibition is as rich as it is intimate. More than 400 artifacts — physical and digital — are on display, drawn from the fashion archive as well as decades-long engagements across art, architecture, culture, and sport. Building on the success of the first iteration in 2014, this exhibition follows the groundbreaking trajectory of Prada, exploring the indelible impact of its vision on luxury, beauty, and fashion as an intellectual act.
Staged as a lush magazzino, the Italian word for warehouse, Pradasphere II is a cross-section of the multivalent Prada universe. Created in collaboration with 2x4, the New York City and Beijing-based design studio, the exhibition juxtaposes the rough and refined: constructed of industrial warehouse shelving lined with precious pink silk velvet. Together, the exhibition puts forward a way of thinking about luxury: fashion intersects with life — history, art, sport, architecture, and sound.
The green velvet entrance, designed to evoke the foundations of the Prada style, features an original Andreas Gursky photograph, depicting an emblematic wall from one of the brand’s early retail stores.
The main Magazzino corridor displays nearly 200 looks, both women’s and men’s, from the first collection to the current day, some of which have not been seen for over three decades. These looks have been carefully chosen by Raf Simons, super-fan from the outside turned insider and co-creator.
A number of special rooms designed to evoke uniquely Prada spaces branch off from the Magazzino. These rooms serve as focal points to go deeper into various episodes of this multi-dimensional world.
FRATELLI PRADA
FRATELLI PRADA
PRADA A MILANO
PRADA A MILANO
GALLERY
GALLERY
GREEN STORE
GREEN STORE
CINEMA
CINEMA
VITRINE
VITRINE
ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE
MATERIALITY
MATERIALITY
LUNA ROSSA
LUNA ROSSA
LINEA ROSSA
LINEA ROSSA
RE-NYLON
RE-NYLON
FONDAZIONE PRADA
FONDAZIONE PRADA
Savoir Faire
The Location
The Start Museum, which opened in December 2022 after an ambitious renovation by Jean Nouvel, is located in the historical building of the Nanpu Railway Station, a sea-to-land transport hub whose origins date back to 1907. Located on the west bank of the Huangpu River, the Start Museum is a vibrant addition to the Xuhui District. Pradasphere II marks the first exhibition of its kind at the museum.