Men’s – Sailors and The Sea. Prada AW16

January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Via Jeanne Damas Instagram

Even though the fashion world seems to be a happy place, Miuccia Prada makes a statement – it’s an industry, where everything is influenced by the world’s problems. The autumn-winter 2015 show is not only about new ideas and new bags – it delves much deeper. Curiosity about other people and about the world the designer lives in made this collection one of the most thoughtful Prada outings ever. “That is what is really interesting,” says she. “What people relate to, what fascinates them, how the fusion of fashion and culture makes people react.” Moreover, Miuccia has openly stated that she was thinking about the immigration, famine and a world-wide pessimism during the design process – and this explains the defining, sailor theme of this collection, which was frequently misinterpreted with Moby Dick’s tale. However, this time Prada takes it in a realistic way.

But a fashion show is about fashion, of course. The menswear part was mesmerizing, considering the clothes and the styling tricks. Most of the looks were topped off with a sailor cap and many of the opening men’s looks were focused on short-sleeved button-up shirts printed with retro-inspired imagery. Deconstructed shirting, printed with Christophe Chemin‘s surreal illustrations, appeared in various forms, like extra packets on tops and additional collars worn over coats. In overall, the men’s wardrobe had a survivor-like manner, noting the bare torsos and unbottoned shirts the models wore, If talking of the womenswear part, Prada delivered beautiful silhouettes for her pre-fall 2016 – the designer’s models like (Natalie Westling, Lineisy Montero and Mica Arganaraz) moved down the runway in woolen tights, ginger leather coats and sleek, midi-lenght dresses. The classy, velvet pumps worn with socks looked, as usual, unfailing. Summing up, the collection was like a storm among the pretty and calm menswear collections in Milan.

Monkeys at Prada

January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

2016 is the year, which according to Chinese lunar New Year belongs to monkeys. In Chinese zodiac, monkeys are characterised by their curiousity of the world and creative energy – so no wonder why designers make monkeys appear on the runways regularly. Back in 2011, the obsession about monkeys in fashion sparkled after Prada‘s colourful and bold spring-summer fashion show. Monkey motifs appeared on the architectural tops and pencil skirts, whilee the dresses with embroidered monkeys were hand-made in India. Moreover, Miuccia Prada went bananas that season, presenting the potassium-rich fruits on the frivolous mini-skirts and daddy-from-Hawaii shirts. Up to date, it’s one of my favourite collections coming from Miuccia, and now as it gained even bigger significance in 2016 – I adore it!

Fondazione Prada

October 17, 2015January 7, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Haunted Tower”

Fondazione Prada is Milan’s most exciting place, where curated art meets architecture and its past. The creator of Fondazione Prada is, as the name might suggest, Miuccia Prada, whose love to art is as strong as to fashion. This is not an average, contemporary art museum – Fondazione fuses visual appreciation with intellectual pleasure – everything that happens here, from silent dance performances to temporary exhibitions, feels bonded together. The “Haunted House” covered with gold and the whole Fondazione Prada site is part of a former distillery complex dating back to the 1910s.

Without transforming the original volumes, the architecture project has preserved and enhanced the building by reinforcing the structure and gilding its external surface. As stated by Rem Koolhaas, the architect behind the museum, “Fondazione is not a preservation project and not a new architecture. Two conditions that are usually kept separate here confront each other in a state of permanent interaction–offering an ensemble of fragments that will not congeal into a single image, or allow any part to dominate the others. New, old, horizontal, vertical, wide, narrow, white, black, open, enclosed–all these contrasts establish the range of oppositions that define the new Fondazione. By introducing so many spatial variables, the complexity of the architecture will promote an unstable, open programming, where art and architecture will benefit from each other’s challenges”. Permanently, Fondazione Prada exhibits Louis Bourgeois‘s metaphysical installations, Robert Gober‘s eerie and surreal artworks. As part of the temporary exhibition, it’s essential to see Damien Hirst‘s “Trittico“, which literally presents a gynecologist chair immersed in a huge, fish-filled aquarium.

After few hours of discovering and learning about Fondazione Prada’s treasures, it’s a great idea to have cup of coffee at Bar Luce, which was designed by Wes Anderson, the famous director of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” – the pastel green wallpapers and delicious, marmalade cupcakes certainly give the caffè a status of the best museum cafeteria in the world. If you are planning a visit to Milan, then don’t even try to miss Fondazione Prada on your go-to list!

Via Largo Isarco 2 / Milan

Provoking Girl. Miu Miu SS16

October 14, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

I can’t believe myself – it’s the last post about the SS16 fashion month! And even though I am kind of sad that the spring-summer 2016 season came to an end, it feels like a perfect time to chill and look back at all the fashion moments that took place in September and at the beginning of October. The marathon of New York, London, Milan and Paris delivered so many gorgeous, amusing, shocking and effy collections, that it’s the perfect time to take a short break and reflect. However, there is never too much of Miu Miu – Miuccia Prada absolutely astonished me this time. The new collection is a bit confusing, but very appealing. The ugliness of the ballerina shoes with Comme des Garcons-like belt buckles and vichy checks are a loud nod to the beauty of ballet and its bad sides. Miuccia gave as some tulle skirts, too, keeping Miu Miu’s spirit girlie, but with a twist. The ruffled, organza aprons in courgette purple, mint green and cherry red looked provoking, when worn with the loosely fit pencil skirts. A Miu Miu collection is not a Miu Miu collection without eclectic wallpaper prints and fur stoles, which appeared to be worn extravagantly around the chest. I also loved the fur “tails” which dangled under the leather jackets and layered shirts. Feminine edginess wins the label this season, saying sweetly “I wear what I want, so don’t bother me“. A great collection that ends another nutritious season!

Subverting Reality. Prada SS16

September 29, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Miuccia Prada‘s subverted reality can be felt in the most “realistic” way at Fondazione Prada (soon, a post coming up on it!). This place serves as a museum of modern art and has a quaint, strongly elusive and a highly reflective aura around it. The complex of former-industrial factory exhibits the installations and paintings, and just like the SS16 fashion show venue, it’s all about raw concrete. And this minimal background is the best for a viewer to experience art. And fashion, as in case of Prada‘s latest collection. This collection was all about the eccentric side of Miuccia – disco ball earrings and Cuban heels; snake-skin coats in pastel green; gold lips by Pat McGrath. Also, it fused different decades – 40’s masculinity (the jackets), 60’s geometric patterns and 80’s modernism represented in silhouettes of the skirts. Although the collection was pretty built-up with layers and various textures, there was a place for more exposing and daring pieces. Take the bathrobe coats made out of transparent organza or net-like necklaces that delicately showed some flesh. This collection is deeply rooted in Prada’s signatures and it changes the classical wardrobe of the brand’s customer.