On the other side of the windows of the old Nanpu Bridge train station, whose rails reach the banks of the Huangpu River, the water flows slowly while the sun hides overhead, wanting to peek out from behind the blanket of fog although only its forks shine through. . With that pearly gray, the Shanghai sky filters into the Start Museum, renovated in 2022 by Jean Nouvel and now handed over to Prada.
Its walls have been upholstered in mint green and powder pink velvet, the firm's organic colors, to accommodate 110 years of history. For this, workshops and archives have been opened, and there are even garments from Miuccia's own closet and also from Manuela Pavesi's collection, as well as documents that illustrate the creative process of a brand whose DNA has been dissected in the brand new museum of the Chinese megalopolis, demonstrating that Prada is today more global than Google or Twitter.
Michael Rock, curator of the exhibition, invites us to explore the sensory story of Prada's history. “We didn't want to put fashion on a pedestal, but entering a museum is complicated. Fashion lives in people, in reality. But in this space we manage to suggest the intimacy of the fashion gesture,” he tells us, adding: “Her objects, her clothes, her shoes and other things are the way in which Miuccia Prada really examines the world and engages with it. ”.
An immense virtual parade greets the visitor, inviting them to climb the catwalk. But soon he enters Fratelli Prada, a replica of the first family store from 1913, in the Milanese Vittorio Emmanuele II galleries. On the counter, a series of fine leather accessories for the new travelers who crossed the world aboard the first ocean liners. Modern travel transformed the way we dressed, as illustrated by the Deco mural, recreated exactly as XX and Mario Prada, Miuccia's grandfather, did.
Lombard elegance takes over a route that is also another way of understanding and explaining luxury. Providing objects for personal use with a perfect gear, with the best materials but turning artisanal experience into industrial design, together with a lesson in good taste, constituted the differential value of this brand that today has extended its sphere beyond Fashion.
Pradasphere II is a rich and at the same time intimate exhibition. There is no glass between the pieces and the look. It offers a recital made up of 400 objects, fashion, architecture, art, sports, photography or architecture. Only an aesthetic and philosophical dialogue could arise in the project initiated by Miuccia Prada, doctor in Political Science, former militant of the Italian Communist Party, the rebel of the family, who came to study mime at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
It was difficult for him to decide to take over the family leather goods business. She stated that dedicating herself to fashion for a feminist like her was an uncomfortable position. However, knowing that fashion is also political, this contradiction would spur her to subvert it. She assured that “true luxury does not have to be conservative,” and she dedicated herself to proving it. What is sexy about Prada is subtle: lightness and movement. The solidity is the quality, and the intellectual is the concept.
On the trip to Shanghai to visit the exhibition we spoke with some colleagues – 90 from all over the world – and, with Angelo Flaccavento, we remembered Italo Calvino's Six Proposals for the New Millennium, a foundational book for so many wounded writers. Prada has followed them to the letter. It remains an independent company – it does not belong to any luxury holding company – led by Miuccia's husband, Patricio Bertelli – and already incorporated by his son, the successor, Lorenzo Bertelli Prada –, it has not lost influence and has been able to globalize by exercising as a cultural agent and always distancing itself from trends.
In the exhibition, a magazzino – warehouse in Italian – has been recreated that contains on its shelves 200 mannequins, both men and women, emblematic models, although some have not been seen for more than thirty years. They have been chosen by Raf Simons, self-defined as a “superfan” before joining the azienda, and chosen by Miuccia in 2020 as co-creator of the collections. “Everything Raff does is unbeatable,” says the Signora.
While the original soundtrack composed by Richie Hawtin, Plastikman, plays, sound and visual landscapes open up, since Prada has also collaborated with filmmakers of the stature of Wes Anderson, Ridley Scott and Yang Fudong, who have directed fashion films for the brand. Architecture, where unpublished documents of the projects signed by Rem Koolhaas/OMA and Herzog are exhibited
And, next to a display case with the firm's always sober, no-frills bags, is the cabin of a simulator that takes you to the heart of the America's Cup, where Prada participates with its nautical syndicate: the Luna Rossa, another of the brand's passions, emblem of its commitment to sport.
Time is suspended, while past and future exchange roles. “It's Prada's DNA,” explains Simons. “We know what it is today, but I wanted to show it and explain it exactly from the beginning. Here it is, in look number 1, on the left, a white shirt with a black skirt, a belt and a flat shoe with a thick rubber sole, from 1988. It was interesting to show it. You can keep reinventing your DNA, and re-energizing it, but never let it be lost. Keep it alive. Because that's why people love Prada."
Simons mixes with journalists at the Prada Café while waiting for the Signora's presence. He is more talkative than usual, and tells us that Prada has been perceived by many people, including himself, with a lot of eccentricity. “Although there was also a lot of DNA of reality and those ideas are as relevant or almost more than that of eccentricity because they are linked to the moment. He has also discovered episodes that he was unaware of: how Miuccia's work in her grandparents' factory, or the injection that nylon represented in the seventies that made the firm take off globally.
There is silence, and Verde Visconti, Miuccia Prada's right-hand woman, enters with her, elegant and sober, with her classic half smile. We asked her how she feels after seeing the exhibition. “I try not to be impressed,” she says, “not say 'Oh my God!' You always have to think about the next thing… but the truth is that I am very impressed to see what they have achieved.” The two designers chat amicably, but there is an almost religious respect in the presence of the creator of the brand. “I separate nostalgia by the importance of history. I am a big fan of history, not only in fashion, but in art, politics, etc. So it is very important that we are all, of course, inspired by the past and also the present.”
Why China?
I can't say it, because many wouldn't believe me... but I'm almost Chinese. The first time she came she was 25 years old. I see it as a very special gift.
Do you think fashion is art?
No. The process of creating art is very similar, but it depends. Today everyone considers themselves an artist. I am from the old school, the artist really works from freedom. We have to sell, we are a commercial company, even though we are very creative. If I were an artist, my competition would be non-designer artists. I don't want to be an artist. But I like working with artists.
The final reading of Pradasphere II certifies that talent attracts more talent, and Prada has the manners of a 21st century Bauhaus.
