Yesterday I had the pleasure to invite a charming circle of art, fashion and architectural interested women to the Prada Boutique in Munich to present the Winter 2018 Collection by Miuccia Prada, a talk about fashion, art and everyday style.
Miuccia Prada is a long-time heroine to me as she is the strongest female designer with a very own attitude towards aesthetics, always surprising, often not easy to get at first sight. That makes her collection always most interesting.
The current one named NOCTURNE, which means a painting of night space, was presented in the Fondazione Prada’s recently opened TOWER built by Rem Koolhaas at OMA architectural firm this February in Milan.
This collection is not the easiest one to grasp but if you take a closer look and see the sportswear with couture crafting, the jacquard knit lingerie made of Japanese yarn in fluo-colors and the Graphic elements designed by OMA architectural firm, you get an overall oeuvre by Mrs. Prada which stands alone with magnificent detail and interesting connections to the art world.
For example: the many printed dresses with tulles extra overlay dresses, embroidered with plastic flowers. The Prints of the dresses look like flowers seen through a window at night in the rain, somehow mysterious and cinematic like the overall feel of the entire collection. Padded outerwear alludes to an idea of a suit of armor in the night with the protective Linea Rossa outerwear in technical fabric and tweed bustier top like protective armor. Embracing the night with all its facets.
The signature Hawaiian shirt becomes the prototype silhouette for coats and jackets which are made with an industrial vibe, padded with fluorescent Japanese nylon.
The print of the Hawaiian shirt often combined with her signature pattern of pills remind me of Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy works where medical pills become an art form. This print repeats on stilettos, skirts and classic pieces.
Fluo colors and technical materials, including iconic Prada nylon, reminds me of the neon installations by artist Carsten Höller for Art Miami 2017, The Prada Double Club. Neon is a romantic mysterious child of the night and Prada uses it playfully in this collection.
There are many links and associations towards the art world and architecture as Miuccia Prada is interested in the unexpected and she always finds a way. It seems Miuccia Prada pulls from a near ending well filled with her curiosity and love for art and life and women.
We lively discussed many ideas, exchanged favourite styles and concepts from different collections and when the question arose which is a piece I should invest in at PRADA?-The answer was easy: A skirt of course, as Miuccia Prada is known for her innovative artsy approach on skirts and dresses.
