Prada fans have only just recovered from the frenzy around Raf Simons’ and Prada’s collaborative S/S 2021 debut, and now the theme of Sotheby’s latest online charity sale is sure to up their adrenalin. ‘Tools of Memory’ – which opens for bidding tomorrow – features over 70 archive-essential items from the brand’s A/W 2020 men’s and women’s shows, the last solo creative outings from Miuccia Prada, and the final Fondazione Prada-staged fashion shows for the foreseeable future.
There’s a wide range of ephemera up for grabs, from fashion show merchandise to individual runway looks, one-off items, to backstage photographic prints. At Wallpaper*, we’re setting our sights on a graphic women’s show invitation which doubles up as a box, complete with seat card, accompanying show soundtrack vinyl by Federic Sanchez, plus a candid fittings polaroid. A unique sky blue dress has also caught our eye, its frilled neckline embellished with 20s fringed beading, plus a selection of Daniel Arnold images of male models dressing backstage.
We’ve long held a fascination for Prada’s AMO-designed runway sets, which in recent seasons have seen the Deposito space of the Fondazione Prada tessellated with retro-hued tiles, lined with laboratory-inspired flickering lightbulbs, and plastered with comic strips by artists including Brigid Elva, Trina Robbins and Natsume Ono.
For the brand’s A/W 2020 shows, Rem Koolhaas devised show sets inspired by two Italinate piazzas, with guests positioned on rectangular seating looking into the rooms below. For the men’s show, a large sculpture of a man on a horse was erected, and for the women’s an abstract version of the mythological Greek Titan — who was condemned to carry the heavens on his shoulders — was rendered in flat interlocking planes. ‘The statue is made of several wooden panels, which present the riding figure as either amazon or knight, depending on the point of view. In its totality, the statue casts an iconic shadow on the square,’ Koolhaas explains of the men’s sculpture.
Both form part of the sale, meaning you can erect a version of Prada’s A/W 2020 runway set in your own living room, immersing yourself in its autumn atmosphere for years ahead. §
