Prada “The Iconoclasts" 2015 in London

 

During London Fashion Week, Prada presented the third chapter of The Iconoclasts project. Arianne Phillips’ takeover of the London Old Bond Street store drew an elite mix of London’s fashion and avant-garde scene.

Inspired by telling stories and creating characters, Arianne Phillips envisioned a ‘cinematic dreamscape’ of the store and created a special film based on the Spring / Summer 2015 collection. Desert landscapes were used as dramatic backdrops throughout the store against purple carpet. The store windows were filled with purple sand, rocks and trees. The natural elements like moss and orchids continued inside with the re-creation and ‘mash up’ of textiles used in the show for special mannequins, some with bright red wigs.

The mix of unexpected elements  and re-imagination of key bags and luggage in rich brocades, allowed guests to explore the craftsmanship of the collection through Arianne’s innovative vision.

Prada Ricamo Sneakers

 

The ricamo sneakers are now available at Prada Alexandra House store and Prada Canton Road store in Hong Kong.

Prada FW 2015 Men’s Fashion Show in Milan

 

The existing room is disguised into a classic enfilade of rooms, gradually changing proportions as in an abstract mannerist perspective. As opposed to a single stage, the new sequence of spaces multiplies and fragments the show into a series of intimate moments.

The progression through the connected rooms simulates endless repetitions and symmetries, while providing the illusion of an infinite palace. As the models move linearly across the enfilade the audience, divided into small groups, are pushed to close and intimate proximity with the collection.

Blue and black (false) marble cover the floors and walls transforming each space into a tridimensional excavation. In this disorientating landscape aluminum geometric inserts in the ground mark the sequence of spaces.

Prada WomensWear SS 2015 Advertising Campaign

 

Can a woman exude confidence yet be relaxed; appear uninhibited and carefree, yet remain in control? These seemingly contradictory states are explored in the new campaign for Prada by Steven Meisel.

Gemma Ward, Julia Nobis and Ine Neefs take centre stage. They are all portrayed in a different mood: stoic, psychedelic and intimate. A black and white studio shot is strong and defiant. A graffiti pastel backdrop channels movement and a youthful attitude. Then we’re drawn in close, into a seductive bedroom scene.

These diverse settings, contrasting moods and seemingly disconnected narratives form a dynamic backdrop for the Spring/Summer collection. The clothes draw together this diverse series, with a distinctive blend of fabrics, colours and silhouettes. Precious materials – antique brocade modelled on the 1800s through to the 60s – meets humble cotton, gauze and raw leather. Silk jacquard socks are a modern and elegant leitmotif.

The season’s bags are reinterpreted in their own revealing character study. One moment they are held protectively, the next they are casually flung on to a bed. Still lives suggest a free and fleeting moment, as if the wearer has just arranged them in a peculiar bedroom ritual.

Within each image the many facets of the Prada woman shift and overlap, part of an interconnected and contradictory story. A spirit of confidence and optimism suggest there are many more stories to be told.

Prada Menswear SS 2015 Advertising Campaign

 

There are forces in feelings, and feelings in things. Attesting to this tangible truth are a series of graphic action portraits for Prada’s Spring/Summer 2015 Menswear campaign.

Four of today’s leading men lend their screen presence to an act of photographic forensics: Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars; Men, Women and Children; Divergent; and the upcoming Insurgent), Ethan Hawke (The ‘Before’ Trilogy; Boyhood; Predestination; Regression), Jack O’Connell (Unbroken; Starred Up; ‘71) and Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now; Whiplash; The Fantastic Four).

Photographer Craig McDean shoots the cinematic cast between London and New York. But the sense of place in is more psychological than geographical. Close-ups of hands, faces and agitated outlines conjure a sense of the unknown.

Objects – knife, orange, dice, prism, compass, pen, lens, pendulum – are picked up, moved, balanced. Pensively scrutinized. Familiar things become less than familiar the more they’re looked at. As if the magical forces that make the world seem so normal have, for an indeterminately short time, revealed their strangeness.

Stitching is the leitmotiv of the collection. A graphic effect — large, small, in contrasting colours — revolutionizing and mixing classic codes while creating new ones. Modern proportions and silhouettes invoke the 1970s. Not as pastiche but pure peculiarity.

The images’ muted colour switches to bold black and white, then back again, mirroring the four actors’ fragmented mental focus. Silence, a space for secrets. In these photographs each of their personalities effortlessly perform new secrets.

Prada Skies for Christmas 2014

 

The 2014 Prada Holiday windows present a suspended scene featuring painterly cloudscapes developed by Prada and long-time collaborator 2×4 in New York. Combining classical and modern textures, Prada Skies evokes a dramatic environment located in neither past nor present.

What at first appears to be a singular image is disrupted by silhouettes that slice through the cloudscapes. The images are reproduced on a canvas through a particular technique that emphasizes the tactility, the naturalness and preciousness of classical painting. 

Inside, seasonal Prada collections are displayed in an unusual way: the traditional marble checkerboard pattern is realized in soft carpet and products are arranged in transparent vitrines on soft, white carpeted backdrops. 

Prada Skies reflects the core brand principles: the complex juxtaposition of material and colors, the evocation of a strong but comfortable atmosphere, and the refined consideration of context. Taken as a whole, the atmosphere projects the image of a leisurely and luxurious holiday. 

Prada Saffiano Travel Collection

Prada presents a collection of men’s leather goods characterized by iconic figurative elements of the brand, crafted in metal and applied to contrast Saffiano calfskin. Colours are in warm summer shades that go from emerald to garnet, electric blue and sunshine yellow.

The bow of a luxury ship in  port, elegant trunks waiting to be loaded. a vintage car; symbols that are linked to travel which the stage designer of La Scala Theatre, Nicola Benois, painted in 1913 for the first Prada store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Man bags, document wallets, credit card holders and wallets engravings from the 1930s, all unique objects that have their roots in tradition.

Prada Crystal Jewels

 

The Spring/Summer 2015 Prada jewellery collection is a contemporary interpretation of the shapes and elegance of high jewellery.

Fine structures, created through a process of micro-casting, are the backbone in which crystals and rhinestones are set, faithfully reproducing the natural colours of precious gems: diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds and topazes.

Necklaces, earrings, bracelets and brooches complete the Prada look with an appeal vaguely inspired by the past.

Pradasphere in Hong Kong Cocktail Party‬

 

Pradasphere in Hong Kong

 

Pradasphere in Hong Kong

 

Gong Li

 

Kong Hyo-Jin

 

Cha Seoung-Won

 

Michele Reis

 

 

 

Jennifer Tse

 

Kathy Chow

 

Amanda S.

 

Wyman Wong

Lorde

Lorde

 

Prada Presents Pradasphere in Hong Kong

Pradasphere, a special exhibition exploring the universe of Prada, is unveiled on November 18th in Hong Kong, situated on the top of Central Ferry Pier 4, with dramatic views across the harbour to Kowloon. Debuted in London in May 2014, the exhibition traces the multivalent obsessions of one of the world’s most iconic brands.

Conceived as a natural history of Prada, Pradasphere is a collection of archival objects arranged to reveal the complex, often intertwined, references of Miuccia Prada, her atelier, and a tight-knit circle of collaborators. The singular Prada vision is manifest in everything from fashion and accessories to art, architecture, film, and culture. Pradasphere posits that there are core ideas engaging beauty, taste, embellishment, gender, vanity, and power, which are repeatedly reworked through those diverse channels. The Prada oeuvre represents both an aesthetic journey and a critique enacted through the products of fashion. But it is also an unabashed celebration of exquisite materiality and craftsmanship, a paean to the rare and the finely wrought, and a wholehearted endorsement of the stylistic iconoclast.

The centrepiece of Pradasphere comprises six towering showcases dedicated to the central themes that have distinguished the work of Prada. The displays combine work from diverse collections to demonstrate the recurrent concepts present in the work. In addition, the exhibition includes: heritage items from the Prada archives; shoes and bags from the past collections organized by theme; examples of exquisite fabrics and materials; Prada history timeline; a screening room presenting short films; architectural projects; and a library of publications.

Each of the sections follows a specific methodology and curatorial approach:
ORIGINS – includes authentic artifacts from the period that Mario Prada opened the first boutique in 1913 in Milan’s prestigious Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ii shopping arcade. The casework follows the design of the elegant displays that Prada has preserved at the original site.
TYPOLOGIES – dominates the centre of the hall, with six freestanding dioramas each dedicated to a specific obsessions or fascination.
– Modernism: Classic, minimal composition.
– Figuration: The passion for prints.
– Continentalism: Homage to European history.
– Excessivity: Testing the limits of extravagance.
– Animality: Inspiration from the natural world.
– Femasculinity: The crossover of the sexes.
EVOLUTION – is a detailed Prada timeline divided into multiple trajectories on a long electronic screen. The timeline juxtaposes men’s and women’s collections, as well as accompanying advertising campaigns and fashion show spaces, with art projects, architectural projects, and other special Prada events. In addition, adjacent display cases house architectural models from frequent collaborators Rem Koolhaas/OMA and Herzog & de Meuron, books, exhibition catalogues, and other ephemera.
SPECIMENS – brings together shoes and bags from diverse seasons and recombines them to illustrate essential qualities that run through all collections. Surrounding vitrines focus on the painstaking process of design and prototyping that goes into every product.
CONSTRUCTION – includes a floor-to-ceiling video display that organises many of Prada’s most iconic looks by colour. The moving images are all drawn from runway footage shot during the fashion shows. Large-scale table vitrines present the precious, exotic, delicate, handmade textiles and innovative materials that make up Prada’s most exclusive designs.
OBSERVATION – is a screening room with a program of some of Prada’s most ambitious film/video projects produced in collaboration with directors including Ridley Scott, Roman Polanski, and Wes Anderson.

Curated by Prada creative director Fabio Zambernardi in collaboration with New York-based designer and writer Michael Rock and his studio 2×4, the exhibition attempts to reveal something of the Prada method. “Pradasphere is a depiction of a collective, often exuberant, wildly creative design process." notes Rock. “It is a story told primarily through things because design is a way of making in the world. And these things are extraordinary, both in their sensuality and as the manifestation of critical issues engaged by design that deals with the body—especially the female body—in such a direct way." Revolving around these diverse references and influences, heritage and history, the iconic and the idiosyncratic, Pradasphere portrays a disruptive approach to design, style, art, and culture that is unique in the world of fashion today.

Pradasphere is free and open to the public from November 19, 2014 to December 5, 2014.