Cartesian Theatre
For the 2019 Spring/Summer Prada Womenswear show, AMO transforms the Deposito, the most dramatic space of the Fondazione Prada complex, into a multifunctional venue for performances.
Through a series of architectural interventions, the design reinterprets the classical spatial repertoire of the theatre with a Terrace, Parterre and Balcony, and uses these to activate the hall for the fashion event. These elements offer different ways for the audience to experience the show, while simultaneously defining a perimeter within the room, sparking a dialogue with the industrial character of Deposito.
The (acid) green terrace, strikingly punctured by the sculptural white beam that acts as counterbalance for the recently opened Torre, is the first structure you encounter when entering the room. A passage through the tribune leads you onto the center parterre marked by a graphic grid that organizes seating and defines the catwalk.
The theatrical nature of the event is articulated through the monumental scale and dramatic framing of the main space, which is visually concluded by the balcony – an assembly that extracts and reinterprets the orange structural system lining the perimeter of Deposito – establishing a visual and material synthesis between the permanent and provisional.
The inflatable stools by Verner Panton – an exclusive re-edition of the 1960s piece, produced by VERPAN for PRADA – expand the set’s material palette, vanishing in the dim lights that outline the plastic carpet of the parterre - the same 100% recyclable clear plastic sheet on set at the Prada Menswear show in June - creating an uncanny and dreamlike atmosphere.
Credit: AMO
Prada Invites - Spring/Summer 2019
For S/S 2019, Prada has invited a series of globally influential female creatives to collaborate, to devise items for women crafted from Prada’s emblematic nylon fabric. A trio of leading female architects - Cini Boeri, Elizabeth Diller and Kazuyo Sejima - have designed unique new pieces created from Prada nylon.
Inspired by the qualities inherent in the fabric itself, and its place within Prada’s heritage, the items represent a new evolution of ’Prada Invites’.
The resultant work becomes an ideological dialogue, expressed through fashion; personal, honest and real.
All of which are concepts associated with Prada’s nylon, the utilitarian fabric which upended conventions of luxury and became a foundational material of Prada today.
This new chapter expounds and expands Prada’s ongoing fascination with multifaceted representations of contemporary femininity.
‘Prada Invites’ is presented alongside the S/S 2019 Prada Womenswear fashion show.