If you read “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” ー the fictional account of an unnamed protagonist’s attempt to hibernate for a year with the help of increasingly sedative narcotics (and the worst psychiatrist known to man) ー then you are intimately acquainted with the somber complexities that comprise an Ottessa Moshfegh novel. 

Moshfegh delivers that same sinister spirit to her latest project, except this time she dresses it up in luxury Italian fabrics and casts Carey Mulligan as her shape-shifting, chameleonic star. To kick off New York Fashion Week, Prada took the literary route, partnering with the author to create a narrative of ten figures, each dressed in wildly distinct ensembles showcasing the brand’s Spring Summer 2025 campaign. 

Picture Alina. Her ‘70s style bangs are exaggeratedly swept aside, and her cat-wing eyeliner poses a worthy opponent. She poses in a pale pink blouse, punctuated by a black leather belt suited for the punk scene rather than the prim one Alina evidently inhabits. “According to the algorithm, you and I are incompatible,” Moshfegh writes from her first protagonist’s point of view. “I shouldn’t enjoy meeting you; it shouldn’t be a pleasure at all. The app marked our match percentage low, a warning to swipe left. But then, I’ve always had a weak spot for glitches and improbable odds.” 

Flip some pages, and you’ll encounter Eleanor, the inhabitant of an unoccupied penthouse belonging to her previous employer having hired Eleanor to manage her vast art collection. Eleanor, a contradiction armed with a pitch black bob and bright red V-neck, now strolls through the halls, sleeping in her employer’s bed, eating off her chipped china, “dabbing on her strange perfume.” 

By the time Tara comes in, a portrait of the ‘80s in an Argyle jumper, the disgraced researcher raises questions in a tale that insists on depriving us of answers. But it’s Moshfegh, and if she knows one thing, it’s how to write a damn good book. And Prada knows just how to introduce it. 

Courtesy of Prada

The limited-edition Prada publication, titled “Ten Protagonists,” debuted at an intimate gathering hosted at the brand’s Broadway Epicenter ー cocktails and Moshfegh-authored compositions abound. Guests included Prada’s SS25 principal, Carey Mulligan, Sadie Sink, Charlotte Lawrence, Diana Silvers, Jessie Andrews, Lola Kirk, Ottessa Moshfegh, Sunisa Lee, Cindy Sherman, Kelvin Harrison Jr. ,and more, intermixing amidst the hypnotic sounds of DJs Channel Tres and k.tea.

Courtesy of Prada

We now leave you with some wise words from our curly-haired character. “My work isn’t just concerned with progress or building toward some perfect future,” Tara says (and Moshfegh writes). “On the contrary. I believe the answer lies in unraveling the complexity that has evolved on this planet, guiding it back towards its simplest, most measurable state: single-cell organisms. Some would call that vision morbid, monstrous. I call it mercy.” 

Chew on that.