Much alike the scaffolding on which the season’s shows took place, the Prada Runway glasses are feminine, subtly brutalist but nonetheless Nouveau
The Autumn/Winter Prada shows for both women and men by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons took place on the same swaying scaffold, smothered incongruously with a Secessionist-style carpet devised by costume and production designer Catherine Martin. That was one of those fabulous Prada red herrings: nothing directly to do with the clothes (no Art Nouveau lines or prints to be found), but in the clashing of elements, in the tension between decoration and construction and, especially in the womenswear, the idea of a mix of overt femininity and a subtle brutalism, there were distinct ideological echoes, when you looked hard enough. Glasses are great for looking – and, actually, these make the implicit more explicit. The metal frame, with elaborate curved bridge and arms, nods to the Nouveau, a style that has frequently influenced Prada aesthetics – fitting, given that the brand was born in 1913. There’s also the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk – the ‘total work of art’ that transcends mediums and boundaries, integrating everything from architecture to painting to interior design and, yes, clothes into a single creative expression.
The Prada Runway glasses are available to buy here.
