Eagerly awaited, yet, what happened? In February there was an announcement of a collaboration. Raf Simons’ first collection at Prada with Miuccia Prada. Looking back, were my expectations too high? Taking into account the circumstances, an audience free presentation during a social distancing fashion week in Milan. Perhaps the lockdown combined with the global somber mood took its toll on creative energy of the Belgium Designer. The debut collection resembled alien lifeforms uniforms straight from a “Star Trek The Next Generation” episode. The fast recap: The Enterprise comes across another space vessel manned by a society practicing an unusual fashion caste system.
I found nothing uplifting or inspiring from the 40 looks. The Spring 21 work comes across as a rush job. Downbeat! If there was central collective focus, I missed it cause my mouth fell open.
The Prada logo, front and centre on the neck for the fashionista selfie to alert everyone what she is wearing. Awkward! The prints, cut outs, and outerwear, and clutch jackets, minimalistic styles. All these elements combined gave off a sense of several ideals too many.
I have no clue how they collaborated, either in person or via Zoom. However, for a debut collection of two heavy hitters in the fashion world, this was let down in some ways. My question: Is this a case study of how two strong chefs can spoil a soup?