The thousand faces of Prada's new capsule with Cassius Hirts

Prada Linea Rossa and Cassius Hirts have collaborated on a very special project to be released today: 3,000 pairs of trainers as part of a very limited capsule collection featuring the Prada America's Cup trainer in 4 new variations and 22 shades. Presented through a campaign created by Axel Morin, with still and moving images, a surreal performance that invades an uncontaminated space, customised masks that make each character both anonymous and unique, and a soundtrack created by Cass for the occasion, the capsule reworks the iconic shoe according to the aesthetic vision of the 21-year-old artist and musician.

The America's Cup, created at the end of the 1990s for the crew of Luna Rossa and made entirely of leather with characteristic cross-weave breathable fabric inserts, a silhouette that is instantly recognisable, becomes the canvas of infinite reinterpretations. Cassius Hirst painted his first pair of trainers at the age of 14 as a gift for his father, the artist Damien Hirst. Exposed to the world of art from an early age, trainers in fact became his first canvas: sculptural objects whose topographies were reinvented through hand painting with spray paint, earning him the respect of fans of the calibre of A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Offset, Rihanna, AJ Tracey and the late Virgil Abloh. The collaboration with Prada came about by chance, in an afternoon of experimentation: «I was painting Air Force 1s, taking photos and turning them into very complex vinyl stencils, which then became abstract designs. I would cover a part of the shoe and wrap it with the stencil, protecting only a part of it, the result was crazy. I photographed every step of this experiment and sent one of the pictures to my father. He then sent it to Miuccia who said, 'That's great, let's do something with it.»  

The four Cass x Prada trainer models are named after the world of music, reflecting Cassius' interests and the passions of his fans. The ATT4CK, D3CAY, SUST4IN, REL3ASE are named after the life stages of a sound. The title of each model suggests its look and feel: angular, contoured cleats for the fluorescent-coloured ATT4CKs; worn, torn and deliberately faded leather for the D3CAYs; strong solid colours with embossed details painted in white for the SUST4INs; and a sprayed finish with fluorescent paint for the REL3ASEs. All models are handmade in Italy by Prada in a combination of traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge imagination, with individually signed CASS labels: no two pairs are alike. The box design features both the Prada logo and Cassius Hirst's logo - a scan of his brain, a sort of trademark inspired by a personal story: «When I was a kid I had an epileptic seizure and did all sorts of analyses, the images come from there: whole scans, cross sections, I find them fascinating. I made stencils out of them and have been using them ever since. They also go well with the idea of the mask, it's a kind of bizarre self-portrait. I like the idea that everyone has their own version in their head.»