Scene setting: Staged inside a high, industrial space at the Prada Foundation, OMA constructed a raised platform: guests looked down onto the catwalk designed to evoke a fictional outdoors. Graphic green triangles mimicked smart topiary; smart purple shapes stood in for dramatic drop shadows; at the centre was a large sculpture of a man on a horse. The court was lined with red-light bathed doorways. The staging evoked the spirit of artist Giorgio de Chirico’s surrealist 1952 painting Piazza d'Italia.
Mood board: The collection was smart and prim; there was a return to the Prada palette of browns, purples, bottle greens and grey. Fray-edge waist jackets, frill bib shirts and stirrup pants. Glossy shearlings. Jumbo cords in jewel colours. Oversize wool blazers. Standout were the geometric prints that had a flatness to them and were applied to shirts and matching slim pants. ‘Formal is trendy at the moment and let’s say that with the big complications around the world, the only thing that makes me calm and relaxed and optimistic is to give value to work,’ Prada said backstage. A/W 20 riffed on formal work clothes with a heroism and sharp confidence. The show was about everyday heroes and, Prada said, ‘a perspective on heroes who were not heroic.’
Sound bite: Questions floating around the show circuit are concerned with one thing: sustainability. Everything – from the plastics used for invitations or an extravagant set – is up for dissemination. Last year, Prada launched their Re-Nylon project, introducing a sustainable line of their iconic bags. Backstage, Prada was direct: 'Everyone talks about sustainability but it has become a question everybody asks – and in one year this has become a real thing and I am very optimistic.’ A/W 20’s clothes look formal and beautiful because they are well thought out. Asked about the stirrups added to the bottom of trousers she replied: ‘we just liked it’. Clear, concise. Chic.
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Alexander Wessely turns the Nobel Prize ceremony into a live artworkFor the first time, the Nobel Prize banquet has been reimagined as a live artwork. Swedish-Greek artist and scenographer Alexander Wessely speaks to Wallpaper* about creating a three-act meditation on light inside Stockholm City Hall
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At $31.4 million, this Lalanne hippo just smashed another world auction record at Sotheby’sThe jaw-dropping price marked the highest-ever for a work by François-Xavier Lalanne – and for a work of design generally
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NYC’s first alcohol-free members’ club is full of spiritThe Maze NYC is a design-led social hub in Flatiron, redefining how the city gathers with an alcohol-free, community-driven ethos
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At its academy, Prada sets an agenda for the future: ‘Technology cannot replace the ability to work with your hands’Wallpaper* takes a trip to the Prada Group Academy in Scandicci, Tuscany, where Prada CEO Andrea Guerra and CMO Lorenzo Bertelli outline the future of Italian craft on the institution’s 25th anniversary
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Ten pyjama shirts good enough to wear out of the bedroom and onto the streetFrom Prada to Dolce & Gabbana, designers have embraced the louche elegance of the pyjama shirt this season. Here, the Wallpaper* style team select ten of the best
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Faux fur and shearling dominated the A/W 2025 runways – these ten pieces capture the material’s ‘raw glamour’Embrace the season’s twisted glamour with these arresting pieces in imitation fur and shearling, from Simone Rocha’s faux fur-covered Mary Janes to colourful-hued shearlings from Gucci, Alaïa and Jacquemus
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Elmgreen & Dragset on creating a surreal cinema for Prada Mode in London: ‘You are never alone’Populated with a series of hyper-realistic figures, ‘The Audience’ is an immersive new work by the Scandinavian duo, providing the centrepiece of Prada Mode, the house’s roving private members’ club
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Frieze London 2025: all the fashion moments to look out forThe best fashion happenings to add to your Frieze London 2025 schedule, from Dunhill’s curation of talks at Frieze Masters to an exhibition of furniture by Rick Owens
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The story behind Gian Paolo Barbieri’s cinematic fashion photography, which helped define the 1990sA new Milan exhibition explores the legacy of Gian Paolo Barbieri, a photographer who would shape a vision of Italian style alongside collaborators Versace, Armani and Valentino
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The key takeaways from the S/S 2026 shows: freedom, colour and romance define fashion’s new chapterWe unpack the trends and takeaways from the S/S 2026 season, which saw fashion embrace a fresh start with free-spirited collections and a bold exploration of colour and form
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The independent designers you might have missed from fashion month S/S 2026Amid a tidal wave of big-house debuts, we take you through the independent displays that may have slipped through the cracks – from beautiful imagery to bookshop takeovers, museum displays and moves across the pond
