AMO — OMA’s research and design studio — creates the setting for the Prada fall/winter 2020 Menswear Fashion Show.
AMO transforms the grand hall of the Deposito, the multifunctional venue for performances that is part of the Fondazione Prada complex, into a set of imaginary piazzas that manifest the abstract energy of the public arena.
Contradictions and dichotomies - techno-classicism, future histories, modernism, an anti-heroic masculinity. The PRADA Fall/Winter 2020 menswear collection presents synchronous yet antonymous viewpoints on tradition, on the known, on nature - human, and otherwise. A fantasizing of the classic.
© Prada
Brightly-coloured, two-dimensional, a representation or gesture rather than a reality, while stylised graphics and colours echo an unnatural nature. A completely conceived environment is reflected in a postmodern panopticon, a surreal court within which the men are endlessly observed.
© Prada
After ascending a grand staircase, guests enter the show space on a raised platform overlooking two identical voids, each containing the same fictional outdoor space. The scene is bare: a series of portals organized symmetrically around the courts mark a threshold between a public space and an enigmatic porch, concealed behind the architecture.
© Prada
An abstract statue takes the center of the space, providing a focal point and a three dimensional axis. Sharp projections of the statue on the floor, mimicking the long shadows of a Fall afternoon, define the squares and enhance their graphic composition. Behind the sequence of openings on the porch, a strong red light provides depth to the configuration marking the transition in the space.
© Prada
© Prada
The relationship between the fashion on stage and the audience gathered above is simultaneously detached and voyeuristic. Models wander through the space, appearing and disappearing, following invisible trajectories that blur the boundary between the exposed and the concealed.
© Prada
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Courtesy of © Prada
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