Think deep

Prada’s SS21 campaign is having an existential crisis
By Alex James Taylor | Fashion | 7 January 2021

The first Prada campaign from Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons‘ joint creative partnership poses as many questions as their debut collection together.

GALLERY

Expanding on the collection’s narrative of contemporary life shaped by technology, the SS21 imagery explores the “realities of living today – a reality echoed by fashion, visions of which have been uniquely framed by and mediated through technology during the past year.” Remember, this is a collection created during the pandemic, where even Raf and Miuccia had to rely on video calls – consequently, this seeped into their design dialogue.

With this in mind, the campaign is shot not by a human, but by machine. As in the showspace, each image is captured by hundreds of cameras circling models in 360-degrees, simultaneously capture a multitude of views with automated speed.

What does this translate to? Models fully clad in Prada looks backdropped by a pure white background. Overlapping the images are a series of existential questions, including “Is future a romantic idea for you?”, “Is nature out there, or in here?” and “Should we slow down or speed up?” Each image guides viewers to the Prada website, where they have the opportunity to submit answers and pose their own questions, which may feature on upcoming imagery. So get your thinking caps on – and step outside the box.


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