Italian Fashion House Prada showcased its Spring/Summer 2024 Prada menswear collection, Fluid Form by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons at the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada during Milan Fashion Week. The collection is an examination of fluid architecture around the human body. It proposes an absolute freedom of the body, expressed through the foundations of the garments that clothe it.
Apart from the garment, the concept of fluidity framing the human form again expands, represented through the showspace in the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada. According to the fashion house, abstract walls are evoked through fluid interruptions, forming an ever-shifting enfilade through which the models process.
Designed by OMA, Fondazione Prada is located in a former gin distillery from 1910 in the Largo Isarco industrial complex on the southern edge of Milan. The studio explains that the space is a coexistence of new and regenerated buildings, such as warehouses, laboratories, and brewing silos, together with new buildings surrounding a large courtyard.
The goal of the complex is to expand the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can be exhibited. The project consists of seven existing buildings, and three new structures: Podium, a space for temporary exhibitions; Cinema, a multimedia auditorium; and Torre, a nine-story permanent exhibition space for displaying the foundation’s collection and activities.
Located on the west edge of the complex, the Deposito is an existing building which is adapted for curatorial ingenuity. Its basement houses the Fondazione’s collection which is arranged in a hybrid of strict storage and partial display. This creates “chambers” where works can be unpacked or half opened to the public.
In the latest menswear fashion show of the Italian brand, AMO, the research and design team of OMA, has reimagined the Deposito as an environment of liquid partitions intertwined with elements of industrial architecture. The space is transformed into an abstract, metallic show space which interprets the collection’s theme.
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OMA/AMO confined the space to a height of 3.3 meters by a suspended ceiling. Modular, perforated metal panels cladded the entire space, from the walls, ceiling, and seats, while the models walk on a steel floor. Uniform lighting from a perimetral ring of sky panels illuminate the area, creating the clinical aesthetic of the space.
As the models walk the runway, gossamer thick slime pours from the ceiling and pools on the floor resembling a liquified resin waterfall. The slow pouring of the semi-transparent gooey liquid frames the show space of the fashion show. The liquid appears neon green on the floor as it forms sticky puddles. Such details align with the collection’s motif of freedom.
Photos from Prada