The Prada Fall/Winter 2022 Menswear fashion show was held on January 16, 2022 inside the Deposito at Fondazione Prada, Milan.
Work is a state of reality – a vital component of life. Into the idealized, fantasized aesthetic vernacular of the fashion show, a reality interrupts. Taking theater and cinema as mirrors of reality, for the Fall/Winter 2022 Prada men’s show by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada is reimagined by AMO as a stage for action, a representation of a heightened actuality.
Actors are interpreters of reality, employed to echo truth through their portrayals. The casting includes 10 globally-renown Hollywood stars: Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Asa Butterfield, Jeff Goldblum, Damson Idris, Kyle MacLachlan, Tom Mercier, Jaden Michael, Louis Partridge, Ashton Sanders and Filippo Scotti. Real men, recognized figures, they bring a new facet of reality. Here, everyday reality is valorized, its signs and signifiers exchanged with those of elegance and sophistication.
Through this interplay, a merit and worth is afforded to human endeavour at all levels: perceived uniforms of employ achieve new importance. A sense of occasion is given to everyday activity – an import, a worth, emphasising the value of work to society.
Eschewing hierarchy, a dignity is proposed to pragmatic clothing, uniforms of reality, rematerialized in precious leather and silk tech as a mark of respect and value. These are laid alongside the language of sartorial tailoring, a formality which confers an importance. Pragmatism can affect elegance – sartorial construction methods are applied to knitwear, bomber jackets and parkas, formalising these examples of universal clothing. Elegance becomes a means of celebration, of imparting significance.
Garments exemplify a constructed modernism, their inherent architecture serving to define shape and form. The body is given emphasis, shoulders and waist delineated through traditional tailoring, a silhouette then transmuted to everyday garments, the two disciplines not only juxtaposed but brought together as one. Through fabrication and methodology, an equal gravity is given to each genre of clothing – every facet of reality is offered significance, a sophistication and esteem, a lasting value.
