“We did not want to philosophize, to propose stories about clothing,” said Miuccia Prada ahead of the Prada spring collection she showed in Milan today alongside creative director Raf Simons. “For this collection, we wanted to focus on the work—the methods and techniques, the value.” She added: “The clothes say everything.”
The light, airy clothes did as promised: They contained whole universes in the swish of fringe, in the black holes of their grommets. But our story takes us elsewhere, to the bags the models were carrying: A frame style with a shirred body in leather or silk. It is a “reproduction and reinterpretation” of a style first designed by Mario Prada, Miuccia Prada’s grandfather, who founded Prada with his brother Martino back in 1913. (It was then called, appropriately, Fratelli Prada.) But looking closer at this new (old) Prada bag, a new character emerged—literally: a little angry man sticking his tongue out at the world.
The show notes described it as “a hand-carved fastening depicting a mythological figure, a reflection of contemporary enthusiasm for historical Eastern artistic esthetics and styles that exerted a great influence worldwide on decorative and fine arts across the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.” Of course, in the 21st century and in the year 2023, all we see is a reflection of contemporary bleakness and desperation toward a world which remains uncertain whether it will be able to sustain itself for future generations. We see the image of a mythological figure that will become a response when someone texts “hey, how are you?”, an image that will accompany thoughts of “tomorrow is Monday,” and a little creature that will look back at you every time you complain of being broke while carrying the spring 2024 Prada bag with the hand-carved fastening of a mythological figure. In other words, welcome to the stage, the bag of 2024.
