Reflected through a sense of the hand, a touch of the crude, a rawness evokes an intricate layer of fragility. Presented by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the Prada Spring 2023 collection alludes to an interrelationship between the raw and the sensual, delicacy and roughness, and emulsification of contrasts. In the spirit of expanding on unanticipated dichotomies, the house invited the viewpoint of film director Nicolas Winding Refn to conceive an experience around the collection.

Clashing two creative spheres, an expansion takes place as an immersive installation and in the center sits a series of short films by NWR, delving into the lives of women, peeling back the scope of fluid modern femininity – a subject matter that has always fascinated Prada. Through raw apertures punched through the décor, fragments of NWR’s shorts may be observed, and the audience inside is afforded the opportunity to look out to more realities.

Lining the show pace and mirroring the decor, a black paper panopticon provokes an illusory sublimation of a domestic sphere, an alternate reality – the same paper-based fabric is used in a series of dresses. A very much black mirror effect, prompting alluring juxtapositions. Through a sequence of reflections, refractions, and observations, the collection plays with dissimilitude and paradox, shifting between separate realities.

Gesturing to creative freedom, day and evening clothes cross-pollinate – opera coats fuse with leather jackets, tailoring borrows trains of fabric. In the energy of spontaneity, traces of life shape the forms of garments; intentional rifts, twists, creases, and folds capture memories of beauty embedded in the cloth. Garments signifying the intimacy of the home fuse into the outerwear, blurring realities, while the historic Prada uniform denotes reality. An antique Nappa merges with the accessories, surfaces patinated, pressed, and wrinkled, and are used to reinterpret archetypal and classic Prada handbag silhouettes. Polarities are explored between minimalism and decoration, occasion and everyday – as in life, in reality, unexpected segments are observed, explored, and embraced.

Watch the full show below: