Prada Inverts the Uniform for FW20
Tailoring turned on its head.
Prada is perhaps the most straightforward luxury brand in the fashion industry; even when taking cues from mad scientists and dramatically toying with proportion, its contemporary menswear collections are rooted in wearability, underscoring the meaning of “ready-to-wear.” Fall/Winter 2020 continues to push boundaries, without departing entirely from convention; it’s classic Prada.
Sleeveless knitwear kicked off a series of boxy blazers and plush corduroy coats, offset by trim slacks tucked into snub-nosed leather boots. Textural tweed-like fabrics and Prada’s signature rubber accents drove the following looks, bolstered by patterned sweaters and color-blocked accessories that drew from the artists of the Vienna Succession school, particularly Gustav Klimt. As the show wore on, the garments — all essentially rooted in the same utilitarian, accessible silhouettes — became more dramatic, leading from shirts with inset ruffle bibs to shearling coats given a glistening finish to shirts and pants finished with matching all-over geometric patterns, toeing the line between uniformity and the avant-garde.
“Let me say what’s the point of this show,” Miuccia Prada explained to Vogue. “I thought to give an indication that the only thing that makes me calm and optimistic is to give value to work … to give value to things that matter in your life and your work. And so the creativity is mixed with technicalities, which is a little bit similar to the Secessionist period when ideas, creativity, and actual work had to be all together. It’s to give respect to work, to effort, to fatigue and to what is difficult.”
Watch the entire Prada Fall/Winter 2020 presentation in full below, then relive its Frank Ocean-starring SS20 campaign.
