By Aaron Kok - published
If you’ve spent enough time on #fashiontok going down the rabbit hole, you’d know that there’s a corner on the interwebs that houses plenty of archival footage that Gen Z fashion-lovers are obsessed over.
These curated channels specialise only in exalting runway shows from the past, and the feedback loop that the algorithm picks up on once you’ve watched enough of these throwback clips is to serve you with more of such retrospectives.
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And with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, zeitgeisty as they have always been, the Prada spring/summer 2025 collection became the place for them to discuss this. Show notes point out how we exist “in an era of extreme information, immersed in a constant stream of content”, before pointing out that Prada also thrives in a plurality of “elements from different eras coexisting simultaneously”.
In short: Prada isn’t just one definitive thing.
Together, Simons and Mrs. Prada set out to explore a return to personal style. Was this a jibe at the homogeneity that now dominates fashion outfits and trends on social media? You’ll be the judge, but the Prada spring/summer 2025 collection was about as eccentric and electric as it gets. We went from prairie flowers to bug-eyed aliens to superheroes to ’90s minimalism to sexy housewives in the span of 30 minutes, all set to a discomforting Hitchcockian soundtrack.
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It’s bewildering to take it all in, but the one thing that seemed to thread everything together was the way that Prada and her co-conspirator was able to reference the House’s rich history without feeling tired or overly-referential.
After all, this was the House that gave us candy-coloured fur throws, chandelier platforms and feather-trimmed Chinese pyjamas in the past. They’ve been referenced by so many other designers, that for their own co-designers to now dip into their history and pull out a steady flow of Prada-isms feels right.
And they were all there, these hallmarks of the Prada brand. The famed “ugly chic” approach manifested in several looks. The opening model had a wallpaper floral dress with twisted straps that looked artfully dishevelled, while elsewhere, another model came striding out in a bright cherry red knit paired with a mirrored hole-punched leather skirt.
Then there was the use of trompe-l’œil, seen in the way some of the trousers had belts printed on to look like they were slung low on the hips, or a miniskirt that would reveal a beachside scene upon further squinting.
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Looking back at one’s past can often run the risk of feeling too nostalgic, and that’s where Prada and Simons work their magic touch in modernising things.
Distressed leather, a material of choice that has shown up in many collections in the past, is pierced with enlarged rings that feels as punk as it does cool today. Ribbed jersey, another frequently used material that Prada has long loved, now comes in leggings that are worn in place of bottoms, and the car coats that Prada’s grown-up customer loves makes its return in leopard, tweed or olive green.
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Even the shoes were a throwback to previous years—see a pair of orange boots from 1999, or the return of the sold-out brogue espadrilles from the Josephine Baker collection of spring/summer 2011.
In a season marked by an overarching conversation of wearability, the Prada collection arrives at a key moment that aims to provoke discussion about standing out, the love of drama and breaking away from convention. And if this is the algorithm that Prada is writing for the season ahead, then sign us up.