The Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear collection by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons is an expression of curated processes. Fashion here is evoked through context, the juxtaposition of elements and garments, fashioning an impression, creating style. Fashion as a manner, a way as well as a means of appearing. An expression of choice.
The practice of design - of fashion - is one of decision-making, curation alongside creation. The tools of this collection are direct, recognizable, archetypal pieces – suits, overcoats, sweaters, shirts, denim, leather. Known garments are reinvented through context. There is always a complexity of thought behind apparently simple results, a process of refinement to uncover the fundamentals of dress.
Brought together in unusual combinations, individual garments - often classic in and of themselves - can have a different impact. Inspirations are malleable, elastic and leather shorts and checked patterns can simultaneously evoke memories of childhood, domestication or sophistication. There is a friction in the meeting of these reference-points, where a different identity is fashioned.
Silhouettes are pulled close to the body, proportions abbreviated. They are evocative of youth, therefore energy and vitality. There is a freshness and lightness to clothes that permit the body to move freely, a consciousness of its form and dynamic, an innate freedom and joy.
The show decor conceptualizes intimacy: a representation of a mocked-up house, blown overscale. Executed entirely in raw-edged paper. Reflective of the human and the real, the quotidian and everyday, in material and image, both fashioned into something exceptional... it functions both as a backdrop to the clothes and a protagonist unto itself, another context that challenges our perception.
Guests included (in alphabetic order): Odell Beckham Jr., Kimberly Drew, Michael Elmgreen, Theaster Gates, Ncuti Gatwa, Jeff Goldblum, Jake Gyllenhaal, Damson Idris, Jaehyun, Song Kang, Rami Malek, Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, Tyler Mitchell, Louis Partridge, Manu Rios, Filippo Scotti, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, among the others.
