By On occasion of the Prada Spring Summer 21 Womenswear Show, Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada talk about their latest collaboration by taking part into a Q&A session.
Three topics caught my attention: technology, the concept of new, and Pradaness.
Technology is of course key-point in this whole period. It has helped us feel close, it has given us the tools not to feel alone, and it has become in a way “an extension of ourselves” to use Miuccia’s words. Thanks to technology, the runway is highly dynamic with mixture of close-ups on models and clothes. It really seems that we are seeing the runway first hand, we capture every detail on clothes as if we were scrutinising them.
The concept of newness on a runway is quite controversial and personal. Uniqueness and novelty in a way are not possible because fashion is mainly revision and reinterpretation.
Fashion is a reflection of what has been, such as an art form, a past trend, but at the same time it is a reaction because it adjusts to the current time to become modern and “new” indeed.
As Raf Simons says, “fashion hopes to create new pieces; the reality is that it’s important to refresh your own body of work”, and the collaboration between the two designers is precisely the translation of this concept.
All in all, new is not relevant at all, and it is extremely subjective because people can judge and define what is new depending on their perceptions and wealth of knowledge.
It’s curious to hear the word Prada-ness as a real neologism. It stands for all the things that make Prada recognisable and authentic.
All these three concepts are intertwined and staged on the runway in order to celebrate a new era for Prada thanks to the supporto of the co-creative directo Raf Simon and a cutting edge perspective toward the future.
