Prada Possible Feelings FW 21/22: what are the feelings you can make possible?

The first thing you hear is techno.

The second thing you see are quick steps, but they don’t touch the ground. They seem to fly, float. On a cloud, what is it? It is soft, this can be seen, or rather: it “feels”. Those steps seem to sink, light but fast on a floor made of clouds. All a precise index of that slightly surrealist trend of that Belgian genius called Raf Simons: you take a room, buy kilometers of fabric and then dress it up, and thus you get a place that is no longer what it was. But it is a new thing, which is not known.

The designer is used to these ideas, he had already seen it when, for the first time, he had completely covered the walls of the Dior Haute Couture runaway’s locations with a million orchids. And there, among those orchids (a splendid tribute to the couturier Christian Dior who, the evening before his debut, had a bouquet of black and white orchids delivered to the home of the textile industrialist Marcel Boussac, who had believed in him by investing 60 thousands of francs), the hotel was no longer a hotel. Raf Simons uses this trick to transport you to a dreamlike place, halfway between dream and reality.

But, if it is true that every inch of earth was actually voluptuous carpet, it is also true that monochrome is the symbol of eternal revolutionary classicism (forgive me the oxymoron, but how do you explain it to a woman who creates a perfect tailored suit and curls the sleeves until they almost look like the short sleeves of a jacket?) by Miuccia. Red, purple, white, blue: in contrast, as indeed is the duo of designers. Strong contrast in color, in the struggle between classic and modern, between rigid and relaxed, strong contrast between fantasy and monochrome.

Then they dance. In the dislocated rooms, the boys dance. They dance to Richie Hawtin’s techno music and it is no coincidence that Miuccia Prada in the final conversation says: “We have been living in a bubble for months”. We, like her, feel that bubble simply by looking and listening: it is in every room, empty, in every moment of that muffled music, with her deep bass. We perceive the sense of loneliness of those kids who walk fast in that senseless, empty but oppressive space: masterful work of one of the architects (but I would say above all essayists, recommending reading Junkspace and promising you a radical change in the way of living the space you have around you) most promising of our century, Rem Koolhaas, who has been collaborating for years in the creation of the sets for the Prada fashion shows.

The highlight is not long in coming: a tall and slender boy, with seventies hair (by now we could define 2020/2021 as the minor children of the 70s, who steal everything from him without asking him for anything), wears a suit thin wool that wraps the body like a glove. They call it Long John and it is the essence of that absurd mix that the coronavirus has given to us, a mix that is constantly poised and lost between the desire to dress and the impossibility of giving up the comfort of home clothing. Also known as ‘the pajamas’.

“We were looking for something that was intimate, tactile, that hugged the body but didn’t hide it”, explains Simons.

Among the more enterprising pieces we also note the oversized bomber jackets, worn over further long patterned coats and the typical prints of the maison that, here and there, can be seen on men’s leggings.

But the operation that seemed most evident to me, and also the one I appreciate most personally, in the men’s fashion show FW 21/22 is probably the one done on the styling, matching every single garment to another in a not so banal and not at all obvious way. Does it seem trivial to say? It happens more and more rarely to see catwalks in which, in addition to the undoubted aesthetic beauty of some single garment, there is a broader reflection, which also gives the public a true flavor of the brand.

Prada is not Prada because that nylon bag so simple yet so chic is adorable. Prada is Prada because wearing that chic black nylon bag means being a contemporary, determined woman with a quick step on the street. And this is a mood: that bag, which is now just an example, fails in its purpose if the rest of the person does not run with her to achieve the same goal. So all the catwalks where in addition to style there is also styling, the excellent tool that transmits the attitude of a maison to the spectators of the great fashion show. Have you ever thought of wearing a bomber jacket with printed lining to a long coat, combining it all with a jumpsuit that dares with another bold print? Not me. I will do it? I don’t think so, but besides me I’m sure someone out there will look at the look and think “I never thought about it, I might do it tomorrow”.

At the end of the show the two stylists then continued with their tradition, founded in the duo’s first debut show: a conversation with the public, made by very young experts in the sector, still students. Given Simons’ proximity to subcultures and the world of youth and the ultra-modern result obtained from the Prada-Simons reflection, it was legitimate that the dialogue was precisely with young people of the most recent generation. The most interesting question? How they deal with conflicts.

It is here that Miuccia shows an almost exciting artistic maturity, she replies: it was the conflict I was looking for.

From the clash, therefore, the form is born.

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Rachele Lisci

Rachele Lisci, anche nota come Chiusoperferie, è una stylist, blogger e giornalista italiana. Appassionata di arte e cultura, ama il cinema e cantare a squarciagola i The Smiths.