We’re in the home stretch now. The days are shorter, temperatures are dropping steadily, and Canadians are plodding through one of the two months of the year without a holiday. Thankfully, our friends at Prada have thrown us a proverbial life raft with their latest holiday campaign. Personally, amid the doldrums of winter, a heartfelt holiday campaign is a welcome reprieve — a reminder that warm reunions (and gift-giving) are on the horizon.
There’s just something so visceral about a great holiday campaign. It plants a seed in one’s memory waiting to get re-bloomed at the first sound of sleigh bells or the sight of an animated polar bear. When it comes to the key demo for top-notch holiday marketing, all signs point to me. And sure, I might be an easy target, but for Prada’s winter collection, the brand produced a campaign to spark the holiday spirit for even the most frigid among us.
The campaign video begins with Maya Hawke driving down a winding two-lane highway with snow-covered pines lining the road. In the passenger seat sits SHARP cover alum Damson Idris in conversation with House of Guinness heartthrob Louis Partridge in the back seat. Idris, to no surprise, is wearing one of the most stunning outerwear pieces I’ve ever seen: leather collars and lapels framing a suede jacket tailored to perfection. Classical music plays gently as the video cuts to Letitia Wright and Li Xian also making their way through the wintry backroads.
As night falls, the two groups meet in a wooded clearing. There’s snow on the ground, enough to typically transform a normal workday commute into a wintertide nightmare. But, as you might imagine, nothing cures seasonal blues quite like being draped head-to-toe in Prada. The merry group of A-listers keep warm in the brand’s new winter collection, with the menswear including suiting in kid mohair, tweed, and Loden wool combined with tech stretch trousers. Traipsing through the powder are laced men’s Oxford shoes and Chelsea boots as the group gabs and night falls. Suddenly, one of the car’s headlights illuminates as the group looks on in wonderment. Then, the trees themselves follow suit, laden with countless strings of golden lights. Before long, we pan out to see the whole forest, as far as the eye can see, painted in the warm glow of the season.
The campaign ends, and I look outside to see the grey skies of November looming over our office. There’s no string of lights on the telephone poles downtown. Perhaps it’s because the holidays are still on the horizon, perhaps because I’m not wearing the new Prada winter collection. But when the first snowfall hits the trees and I’m surrounded by good friends and conversation, I’ll be met with the familiar pang of sentimentality that all good campaigns elicit. I’ll think of long winter drives, classical music playing in the background, and tailored tweed jackets.
Learn more about the Prada Holiday Collection for Winter 2025.
