Prada wanted to bring into focus the clothes for its spring/summer 2021
digital presentation by replacing a singular statement with the
“perspectives of many”, by teaming up with five creatives, Terence Nance,
Joanna Piotrowska, Martine Syms, Juergen Teller and Willy Vanderperre to
interpret the Italian fashion house’s latest collection shown during Milan
digital fashion week.
The concept for Prada’s ‘Multiple Views’ presentation was to allow each
creative the chance to propose a film capturing a facet of the Prada
collection, to share their own point of view on Prada’s men’s and women’s
collections that was “distinct and definite in its creative statement and
ideology,” explained the brand.
The collection was showcased in five chapters, to create a “true
conversation” added Prada, as part of its aim to echo the feeling of a
traditional fashion show, as each artist had their own physical and
ideological vantage-point on the collection, to express “their own
opinions, their own observations”.
Prada added in the show notes: “This is an embracing and celebration of
that multiplicity – when people cannot commune, we can establish a
different type of community, united through ideas, goals, beliefs.”
Miuccia Prada showcases last solo collection as part of Milan digital
fashion week
The first chapter was by photographer Willy Vanderperre, filmed in black
and white offering what he states a “slightly schizophrenic” experience
with the camera movement, the models coming from all directions and the
eerie music.
This was followed up by photographer Juergen Teller, who shot the
collection in an industrial factory, highlighting the details of the
garments using film and photographs all stitched together accompanied by a
disjointed soundtrack featuring a piano piece interrupted with factory
machinery noise.
Commenting on taking part, Teller, said in the show notes: “It was an
honour to be asked to photograph and film Miuccia‘s last collection. I
thought the men and women looked beautiful, elegant and modern. I enjoyed
looking at Miuccia‘s vision and trying to make sense of it as honest and
direct as possible.”
For chapter three, London-based Polish photographer Joanna Piotrowska
went for a more conceptual piece for her black and white film, with the
models using finger snaps to demand attention back to the collection, to
“refocus the viewer’s attention to each new look”.
While American artist Martine Syms created a film inspired by cinema
culture for chapter four featuring models in a movie theatre, strutting
between the seats, down the aisle and even climbing over the seats,
intercut with “beautiful people staring at images of themselves on
monitors”.
The final chapter five by American filmmaker, writer, director, actor
and musician Terence Nance was inspired by the idea of “speed and play” to
showcase the sport-inspired pieces of the spring/summer 2021 collection.
Prada highlights simplicity of its tailoring for SS21
At the end of the digital presentation was a closer look at the
collection with a more traditional catwalk format, allowing Prada to bring
the focus back to the “simple clothes” featured in technical and formal
fabrics to offer “longevity and a place within people’s lives”.
Prada explained the understated aesthetic in the show notes: “As times
become increasingly complex, clothes become straightforward,
unostentatious, machines for living and tools for action and activity.
“A radicalism is found in purity – simplicity with a complexity, yet an
antidote to useless complication in precision and directness. Contradiction
is celebrated: in apparent fragility can be found strength, through rigour
joy. A sense of lightness not only of physicality but of emotion – the
dynamism of sportswear translates throughout, a sense of enjoyment, energy,
fun. A reason for fashion.”
Menswear pieces came in a sharp, narrow and fitted silhouette, featuring
technical fabrications of Prada nylon and stretch materials juxtaposed with
traditional suiting, while for women those same fabrics were given couture
volumes and elements taken from lingerie.
This is a collection highlighting how to simplify and pare back fashion,
combining a sportswear-inspired aesthetic with formal and utilitarian
workwear-influenced pieces, utilising technical innovations and function to
dictate form and structure in the muted colour palette of mainly black,
grey, white and beige. Spring/summer 2021 for Prada is all about wearable
clothes.
This marks Miuccia Prada’s last collection as solo creative director of
Prada, as , with their first joint collection to be unveiled in
September.
Images: courtesy of Prada; Main image by Juergen Teller