Prada SS23's Womenswear Was a Voyeuristic Glimpse Into Sci-Fi Domesticity
Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada’s eerie runway combined goth girls with futurism, cinematic drama and businesswear chic.
Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada put the power of choice in the wearer’s hands for Prada‘s Spring/Summer 2023 menswear collection. Taking over Fondazione Prada, the room was laid with brown paper and cloaked in scrolls, and the same set — only much darker in theme and tone — took place for Prada’s SS23 womenswear show.
Submerged in black, windows illuminated in fabric-like visuals and close-up details of looks conjured thoughts of voyeurism, creating a sense of cinema. Made in collaboration with the movie director Nicolas Winding Refn, the “Touch of Crude” project hinges on Prada’s SS23 show, “Domestic Voyeurism,” and even starts outside the show as the invites were similarly themed — little black boxes with a peephole, revealing the location inside, once again denoting something secretive and illusive.
With this, the season is one that’s designed to be innocent, raw and unfiltered, looking at domesticity from the outside-in. This was apparent from the moment models ascended upon the dimly lit runway, which was split into rooms like the men’s presentation.
Prada’s triangular plaque tagged necks on trench coats and gray tailored one-pieces, before a slew of colors emerged. Triangular bags are doubled-up this time, served in blush pink and vibrant highlighter hues, while silks and satins with ombré tones shift on the body, featuring rips in the fabric to reveal the leg in a very un-Prada way — that being purposely unpolished.
It’s harder than before, but smartened with formal cuts. Past-season men’s bombers are emulated by an asymmetrical blazer that balloons on the arms and back. Dresses are architectural, playing on the sense of illusions and what you’re allowed to see and not, as sheer panels ride high on the leg before cutting off into knitwear. Here, domesticity is introduced, as the gowns are similar to nighties and other dresses usher in a moody businesswear undertone.
Layering effects are applied to coats and dresses, shielding what’s underneath — and therefore commenting on the voyeurism we mentioned before. It was eerie, but only until a leather moment occurred, seeing jackets done up in skinny fits. A tunic fell to the knee, while A-line dresses were sci-fi in their fits. With this, Prada is introducing the alternate reality side of domesticity, one that fits somewhere between The Jetsons and a toned-down version of Fran Fine’s looks in The Nanny with her ’90s futurism.
Because of this, the collection was “very Raf.” Unipieces in leather were space age and clinical, especially when paired with coats that featured bows on the rear that caught the breeze of the models walking. It was the attire of the businesswomen of tomorrow, set in a warped Raf-ified reality to showcase an uncanny side of domesticity, a day-to-night wardrobe injected with a few subverted moments of power and sex.
Prada’s knockout SS23 womenswear show can be seen in the gallery and video above. Stay tuned to Hypebeast for more Milan Fashion Week SS23 content.
Elsewhere, Kim Jones presented his latest collection for Fendi yesterday.
