This holiday season, Prada is coming to us with a 2020 Holiday campaign like no other. A new cinematic based on an original short story conceived for Prada by best-selling British author Candice Carty-Williams and lensed by maestro Steven Meisel is a true exploration of perspectives — different angles, views and cuts around the protagonist of an unfolding narrative, all adorned with Prada’s accessories, jewelry and leather goods.

Each image is reminiscent of a movie still, promising a new panorama and offering up fragments of an unfolding story. It follows the tradition of film noir, reconnecting with the house’s earlier moments of pioneering the aesthetics of cinematic drama that has now become peppered with historical references — all revisited through digital exchange with the audience.

The campaign sees five characters/faces cast from the universe of Prada — Freja Beha, Maty Fall, Mao Xiaoxing, Rudolfs Valbergs and Merlijne Schorren — populate an isolated villa Villa Gnutti in Italy, made famous through a 1981 shoot by Helmut Newton. The stills are inspired by the moving, campaign imagery underscored by the esthetics of cinematic drama. Photographed exclusively in black-and-white, the fragments and shots inspired by the moving image are presented in the print campaign as the door to a living narrative that develops online.

The house’s new Cleo handbag comes in as the focal point of this cinematic project. Making her first debut in the Prada Multiple Views SS21 show and featured in the Spring/Summer 2021 womenswear collection, the Cleo draws influence from archival Prada styles and traditional craft techniques, bringing together elements of classicism and futurism. Precious jewels also make a significant appearance in this cinematic campaign — silver or gold with tourmaline, delicate chain necklaces, lariats and chandelier earrings. The Prada Galleria handbag, the Vanity compact-bags, Saffiano and nylon travel accessories and men’s jewelry all grace the campaign with their majestic presence.

Heroes and heroines, protagonists and antagonists, all exploring emotion, intrigue, attraction desire. See Prada’s cinematic 2020 Holiday campaign for yourself in the slideshow below: