Let there be light: a closer look at Prada’s stripped-back S/S 2026 show set

The Prada show is always one of the most anticipated events of Milan Fashion Week. And, while the clothes take centre stage, much of the excitement is down to the set. Since 2018, the shows have been staged inside the hangar-like Deposito space at Fondazione Prada – a vast blank slate that’s set the scene for all manner of transformative world-building. Slime has dripped from ceilings onto sci-fi metal floors, a gigantic paper house turned guests into dolls in a playhouse, and last season, a dimly lit scaffolding structure had the distinct feeling of a rave. But for S/S 2026, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons seemed to declare: let there be light.

Revealing the usually hidden windows of the Deposito, the showspace was flooded with airy brightness – a stark contrast to the heavy, multi-storey structure of A/W 2025 – and guests were able to take in its raw, industrial beauty. The set was designed by the Rotterdam-based architecture studio OMA, led by Rem Koolhaas. The Milanese house has collaborated with the studio for over 25 years – a partnership that began in 1999, when Prada approached OMA to design its New York store on Broadway. The stark wooden steps down into the store, and its swooping manipulation of scale, have since become one of fashion retail’s most memorable statements.

‘Sometimes it’s good to reflect and be a little bit more calm’: Prada’s pared-back show set for men’s S/S 2026

Keeping things simple this season, only a handful of fluffy, flower-shaped carpets scattered across the floor – evoking vintage 1970s prints – gave anything away about the collection. Sheds of furry hair clung to guests’ shoes before they sat down to watch the show unfold, while KLF’s ambient 1990 album Chill Out, layered with the chirps of birdsong, played overhead. The clothes themselves were about ‘a shift of attitude – dismantling of meaning, and dismantling power’, said the brand in a statement.

In practice, this meant a surreal escapism, with clothing spanning micro-shorts, as if pulled upwards at the hemline, colourful raffia hats and tabard-style tops adorned with floral print. There were also tracksuits, shrunken in size and recalling sportswear of the 1970s. Accessories had a feeling of functionality, like a series of backpacks, bumbags and duffels, grasped by models in the hand, while other clothing riffed on masculine archetypes – from the double-breasted suit to military attire.

‘This is the first time the Fondazione is completely bare, with the light coming in,’ said Raf Simons backstage. When asked what prompted the change, Miuccia Prada added, ‘It’s out there. You feel it,’ no doubt referencing the unstable times in which we are living. ‘We wanted to show something in this moment that, hopefully, feels positive and balanced,’ Simons continued. ‘Sometimes it's good to reflect and be a little bit more calm.’

This lightness, the designer says, made the collection the easiest he has ever worked on in his career. ‘Often you have a very specific architectural proposition, a shape, a shoulder, a waist,’ he said. ‘From the start we said we don’t want that. We want everything to be human. We want everything to be light, fresh and colourful. When we started working, it was the easiest collection I have ever done. It's very free.’

prada.com

Read live updates from Milan Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026 and the standout shows of the season so far here