Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons seem to be a match made in fashion heaven. Since teaming up at Prada, the pair have delivered some incredible collections and shows. For SS/23 the pair have showcased the relationship between the raw and the sensual. The collection is a constant play of dissimilitude and paradox that shifts between visions and separate realities.
With the stage set and draped in black paper, dresses were crafted from a paper-based fabric which was torn against the body to create an intimate and impulsive look. The collection is meant to be innocent, unfiltered, and raw. Like the menswear show, the runway was dimly lit and split into rooms.
Key looks included trench coats and tailored one-pieces – both featuring Prada’s triangular plaque on the necks. Colour came in the form of triangular bags which were doubled up and set in blush pink, and a slew of other colours.
“Reality translates to humanity,” Prada said, and that was translated through a sense of rawness that evoked fragility. Opera coats were fused with leather jackets while tailoring borrowed trains of fabric. In essence day and evening clothes cross-pollinate. Poplin shirts were rendered in industrial colours bringing to the fore a minimalised reality.
For accessories, the house went with the classic Prada handbag silhouette. Its antique Nappa, with its surfaces painted, pressed, and wrinkled reinterprets the classic bag. The collection is an exploration between decoration and minimalism, the occasion and every day, as one experiences in life where the unanticipated dichotomies are observed, explored and embraced.
Bomber jackets from past seasons were emulated by a blazer, asymmetrical, and ballooning on the arms and back. Dresses played on the illusions of what you are invited to see and what not. The collection was in essence everything that Raf Simmons has become synonymous with.
Watch the full show here:
