Photo illustration: Prada
From Milan this morning, Prada broadcast its men’s fall collection, our second chance to appreciate the combined genius of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Although there were many programs during this pandemic year, some quite ambitious in the use of technology (I think of the Balenciaga VR program), we are still concerned with little more about what Prada does. This is due in part, if not in large part, to Mrs. Prada herself, to the legacy of her rebellious imagination. If there was ever any doubt that the subject of Prada is Mrs. P – what fascinates her, what amuses her – it should have been clarified today when you said, in a post-show question and answer session: “ I never did anything for anyone. ”She did it for herself. And although she now shares the work with Simons, it is this nervous intuition, shaped by intelligence, that still keeps many of us interested.
Overall, the collection works. He introduces the idea of a fundamental garment – call it overalls, a union suit or a pair of johns. The “suit”, in a variety of different materials and knit patterns, appeared under conventional pinstripe suits, generously cut overcoats, reliable bombers and large sweaters, for an aerodynamic effect with skinny legs, with flat shoes thick soles like urban ballast.
Photo: Prada
Mrs. Prada said during a press conference that the long johns were Simons’ idea, and he said that the body was already the standard equipment – for runners, surfers – although that was not really the source. In fact, the fit seemed to vary, from sticky to spacious and comfortable, depending on the outfit. The main function of long underwear was to provide juxtaposition – to the rounded shapes of coats and jackets, to a contrasting pattern or fuzzy texture. I assume they are unisex.
The clothes seemed slightly at odds with the glamor of Simons and Mrs. Prada’s debut collection for women, with their satin coats in the front and kitten heels, more or less like a woman dragging her adorable, but indifferent son college age for, well, a haute couture fashion show. And where the women’s collection was presented in an elegant room lined with curtains, with digital monitors serving as a kind of chandelier, the men’s parade unfolded in a series of colorful ones, false– fur-lined rooms – part nest, part club, part theater by Pee Wee. Many of the models used Brown Buster cuts.
Photo: Prada
I missed the older, more studious men who occasionally filled out a Prada program. But my main implication was that the clothes were not particularly erotic, despite the shorts. Wouldn’t you think that such clothing, linked to all kinds of male figures over the centuries, would generate a little sexual fantasy in 2021?
But not. It is as if the designers were fixed on the design, the idea, not the effect – which is ironic, given the long history of men in pantyhose (back in the early 1300s) and the evolution of the modern suit traced by historians like the late Anne Hollander.
No designer in recent times has dealt with sexuality more intriguingly than Mrs. Prada. Think of the famous 2005 show with Doutzen Kroes and Lara Stone, which sparked incredible discussions online for days. Or his 2012 male performance with Willem Dafoe and Gary Oldman. Part of the erotic void of this latest show – not strange, not neutral, just void – may be the result of the cast. The bodies were uniformly similar – that is, extremely thin. Greater physical differences may have induced admiration and delight. Another explanation for muffled sexuality may be the current situation – blockades around the world, darkness and, at the same time, reports of secret and rave parties that openly ignore social detachment. Some of the models at today’s Prada show may have danced spontaneously (so we were told), but for real drunkenness, we just have to wait.