Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons on Reinventing Fine Jewellery

This story is taken from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of AnOther Magazine: 

Just as Miuccia Prada’s personal dress codes are the subject of indefatigable scrutiny, equal attention is paid to her phenomenal collection of antique jewellery. For his part, her co-creative director, Raf Simons, who originally trained in industrial design, doesn’t wear jewellery but is certainly interested in its form and realisation. In 2022, and following the spectacular success of its costume bijoux collections in the previous decade, Prada launched fine jewellery. 

The third collection, photographed here, is its most innovative and abstracted to date. Individually cut gemstones are proposed in diametric contrast, highlighting the extraordinary hues of a distinctly Prada palette of purple, chartreuse, blush and tart peach. In a bold bucking of fine jewellery convention, each stone is specifically fashioned to suit the design of its piece, rather than the traditional inverse. Suspended from invisible settings, the gems appear to hover around the body like precious planets. Paradoxically, they simultaneously echo their historic antecedents yet seem quite unlike anything seen before. Below, the two designers shed light on the thinking behind it.

SUSANNAH FRANKEL: What is your earliest memory of a piece of jewellery?

MIUCCIA PRADA: I honestly don’t remember. I started being interested, liking jewels, in the Eighties. I liked them as a fashion item, something to use with fashion. In my mind, fashion and jewellery don’t differ so much. I use both for the sake of fashion. But then there is obviously another layer, which is about the lives of people. Who wore them and so forth. That is my real obsession. Sometimes I find myself fascinated by a special jewel with incredible craftmanship – who thought about it and designed it? And for who? So the lives of others, together with a fashion necessity.

RAF SIMONS: My earliest memory of jewellery is of my first communion necklace, which I wore at home. It was the letter R, in a typically Seventies font. It gave me the feeling that it was something I would have for ever. My mum gave it to me. I didn’t know at that time, but when I started my brand I used an R as a logo for embroidery and also jewellery. I don’t wear jewellery but I have both my parents’ wedding rings. One day I will wear them together on a necklace.

“Sometimes I find myself fascinated by a special jewel with incredible craftmanship – who thought about it and designed it? And for who?” – Miuccia Prada

SF: Do either of you feel the concept of jewellery is gender specific?

RS: No.

SF: Can jewellery alter the meaning of clothes?

RS: Yes, totally.

MP: It enhances an aspect and tells a story.

SF: Can we talk a little about the thinking behind the Prada fine jewellery collection?

MP: I am trying to reproduce what I like, what inspires me, from the old. I am trying to abstract the antique, to push the vocabulary of traditional jewellery somewhere new. I am trying to transform my private ideas into something contemporary.

RS: I think it will be something we will build over time. As an example, this collection is very different from the first one. In this case, I like the boldness of the stones, both for the size and colour. I think the approach was interesting since mostly jewellery is about the minuscule details and craft. This collection is stripped naked but bold, instead of exaggerated decoration. I hope that it can lead to an identity in fine jewellery for Prada.

SF: Why did you decide to show these pieces as part of the Spring/Summer 2026 womenswear show?

RS: It felt right. We thought that showing them on the uniform looks would enhance the juxtaposition – “anti-couture”. I really like that a piece of jewellery is also an idea that gives an attitude – so maybe it is about design …

“I really like that a piece of jewellery is also an idea that gives an attitude” – Raf Simons

MP: I am not interested in the stone itself but in the shape and colour and in the work – the craftsmanship, the passion that someone puts into the making of the pieces, the importance of work. I have never worn a modern piece of jewellery. When I buy something, it is usually because I need it to wear with something, it has a very specific use. I am thinking about its purpose for dressing – a colour, a bracelet, a little earring, a big one. My new obsession is to mix jewels with embroidery, so that you can’t tell the difference between one and the other. In the show the jewels helped, once again, my idea of fashion, the juxtaposition, the subversion, the mistake …

SF: How do you differentiate between fine jewellery and costume jewellery? 

MP: I don’t care. Generally, though, fake requires more fantasy. It is true that jewels are romantic but, again, I don’t like clichés and that applies to jewellery also. That is why in the first Prada fine jewellery collection I wanted to indulge in them – the chain, the heart, the serpent, a study of the classic symbols of jewellery since its earliest days. Sometimes I just want to embrace beauty. A T-shirt with jewellery is not something I specifically like, but I do like to try a new fashion combination. Jewellery is luxury by definition, but that is not what interests me. I like the objects themselves and they help me change the perception of what I am wearing. They become important for what they are used for, not for what they are. 

Hair: Lucas Wilson at Day One using ORIBE. Make-up: Allie Smith at MA+Talent using BYREDO. Casting: Mathilde Curel for Julia Lange Casting at Art Partner. Models: Sydney Acker at Lulu Management, Madeline Dilustro at Supreme Management, Cala Moragas at Ford Models, Rabina Righi at Success Models, Anna Thomsen at Next Model Management and Zahra Traore at Elite Model Management. Photographic assistants: Ivory Serra and Eve Alpert. Styling assistant: Sierra Estep. Make-up assistants: Marc Witmer and Elika Hilata. Production: Fresh Produce. Executive producer: Izzy Cohan. Producer: Anna Blundell. Production assistants: James Norwood, Angalis Field and Zephyr Maliki. Special thanks to Cassie Griffin

This story features in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue, marking 25 years of AnOther Magazine, on sale internationally on 12 March 2026.