Prada Men’s Fall-Winter 2025 Collection Brings Beauty and Confusion
Prada’s Fall-Winter 2025 collection was a study in contrast.
The invitation to the show was both simple and over-the-top: a piece of pipe. A cold, industrial collection beckoned, in my mind. Upon arrival at the Fondazione Prada, thick, black plastic curtains were parted to enter the show space, spread over three scaffolded stories, with brutalist concrete benches. It seemingly confirmed my theory that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were going to serve up something quasi-dystopian. But then I looked down and found that my feet were resting on plush, ornate carpeting, which didn’t make any sense at all.
Then came the clothes. Expecting something cold, industrial, futuristic, or dystopian, it came as a surprise to see a warm, human and intentionally imperfect study of Americana parade down the runway (literally, as models moved from the top floor to the ground floor). While there was an undeniable Western twang to the collection – with fringed sweaters, smile pockets, cowboy and motorcycle boots – it riffed on seemingly every subset of American menswear.
That, too, made for curious juxtaposition and plenty of contrast.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Clunky, scuffed up cowboy and motorcycle boots were paired with cigarette-legged trousers in fine, delicate fabrics that were so tight they bulged with the boot openings. There were fur-lined parkas, against which shiny puffer jackets and vests stood out. Burnished bowling bags and collegiate plaids co-existed, though the latter were of a lighter complexion than one might have expected for Fall-Winter. Kitschy florals, drawn in equal measure from your aunt’s wallpaper and classic hippy styles, were applied to shirts and boots alike. Yet that coexisted with sharp tailoring and well-cut wool overcoats. Despite being so overtly American, the only aesthetic references to sports came in the form of basketball and baseball jewelry — a little add on. The aforementioned florals and burnished bags felt drawn from the ‘70s or ‘80s, yet others felt plucked from the 2000s. In a sea of largely gaudy outerwear, there was a simple, dusty purple Harrington jacket, with a minute Prada wordmark on the chest.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Harris Dickinson.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Keith Powers.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Troye Sivan.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Kelvin Harrison Jr. (left) and Louis Partridge (right).
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Luca Guadagnino.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Sebastian Stan and Joseph Quinn.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Sebastian Stan.
Prada Men’s Fall Winter 2025
Kim Soo-hyun.
Nothing made sense, and yet, I loved it. It felt, to me at least, analogous to the city that Prada calls home. Milan is a city I find aesthetically inspiring and interesting. It is a city that doesn’t really make sense — there is brutalist architecture that sits next to quaint pastel-coloured buildings; buildings go from two stories to six to three to thirty plus, with no apparent rhyme or reason. Many buildings are covered in graffiti and the uneven, large cobblestone streets give the impression of a chaotic city; yet step off those streets into the buildings themselves and you’re walking on terrazzo that is polished twice a day. Some people, like me, love Milan. Others don’t.
Outside the show, the reaction was similarly divided. One eminent photographer dismissed it. Another raved about it. One editor-in-chief said it was brilliant. Another was diplomatic in his assessment of it. I walked out with a smile on my face.
Prada is often synonymous with art and curation. The Fondazione is home to wonderful exhibits. Bar Luce is straight out of Wes Anderson’s imagination. Everything about Prada is usually ordered and measured. This Prada collection was different, as if Miuccia and Raf had intentionally shunned the quest for curated, modernist perfection. The pieces looked like you might find them deep in a thrift store. But that made them look real. It was, in a word, chaotic.
But, like Milan, there was beauty in the chaos.
