In the Prada Men SS25 collection there was more Raf than Miuccia

Ceci n'est pas un fashion show. Or maybe it is. Riding the wave of Magritte's The Treachery of Images, but also on that of artificial intelligence creations, the Prada Men SS25 collection explored the boundary between reality and unreality. To do so, creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons did not resort to sophisticated communicative stratagems, Easter eggs, or performances where one has to look for hidden meanings; they used what they do best: clothes. Naturally, the set was already a dreamlike vision, a playground for all enthusiasts of the futuristic Prada universe. Inside the Deposito of the Prada Foundation, a huge garden was set up, within which a hut was built, «the simplest structure par excellence,» writes the brand, which «stands as an essential totem.» In an intellectual yet fun show, Prada and Simons launched a treasure hunt.

Imagination isn't always use to fantasise, sometimes it can help rewrite the rules of reality. In the SS25 Prada Men collection, the fantastic becomes concrete: from the pristine white hut emerged practical looks, the perfect meeting point between what is needed for a workday and what you can wear to a —very elegant— rave under the rain. Brutalist-shaped mirror sunglasses were paired with cardigans, floral shirts, and tailored pants. Bright colors like red-orange, yellow, and acid green were attentively added to more conservative outfits, in line with the brand's stylistic philosophy. Color block combinations of brown and pink made the workwear suits more playful, while fuchsia cotton field jackets softened the austerity of the military aesthetic. The styling was deliberately imprecise: belts were fake, painted well below the waistline of the pants that fell long, well beyond the leather Church's; some T-shirts had sleeves so short they weren't able to cover the models' wrists, but couldn't be considered three-quarters, but couldn't cover the models' wrists. Except for the glasses, the collection didn't necessarily adhere to the attire of a dedicated raver, but the fit of the tops, the wrinkling of the jackets, and the disheveled nature of each look transported the viewer's mind inside a club. Maybe during a fashionable nerd night, but still inside a club.

In a distinctly Raf Simons collection, where the designer went back in time to when he created shows for ravers and rioters, there were also artistic references dear to colleague Miuccia Prada. For the T-shirt graphics, the choice was not the surrealist Magritte, perhaps too obvious, but the expressionist Bernard Buffet and his very-sad-yet-colourful Clowns. Prada always invites reflection with its shows, not so much through the event but through the clothes themselves. The designers materialised—in a collection rich in materiality, from the vibrancy of the colors to the raw texture of faded leather and suede—the importance of questioning what is placed before us. After all, to discover that the belts were prints, that the shirts were integrated with knitwear, that the collars were fake, and that there was indeed a leather hoodie under the trench, one had to make an effort to look, or at least get closer to the collection. Hence why it was called Closer—«Proximity alters perception,» writes the brand in the show notes. In this fragmented world, where hyper-digital connectivity and new technologies make us isolated and skeptical, the designers questioned the true face of contemporary reality. Apparently, it wears a pair of mirrored glasses and pants borrowed from dad, a tender coloured cardigan, and a work suit too clean to really be worn in a workshop.