Remix Reviews: Prada Fall/Winter 2021 menswear show: Possible Feelings

It's been said countless times that 2020 brought tremendous change to the world, particularly in how we communicate with each other and the way we showcase our work.

Last night, Prada virtually presented the Fall/Winter 2021 Menswear show and kicked off 2021 with vibrancy and optimism. Once again, the fashion house pushed past the boundaries and presented a fusion of color and gentleness, as well as masculinity and boldness. The aim: to introduce a new vision to the world and an unparalleled sensory-stimulating event, which would lead the fashion industry into 2021 with the utmost sophistication and elegance. 

Prada had a vision: The individual. The human body and its freedom. It takes as its basis the intimacy and personal wish for contact and the impulse to exchange and relate to people. It played with color and presented a runway fabricated on the desire to feel and the contentment of tacilitily, both of which results in an exhibition of texture, vibrancy, color, and textile. This collection was a promotion of sensory-stimulation and an explosion of geometric patterned jacquard knits, leathers, bouclé tweeds, and classic pinstripe wool suiting bringing together traditional and boundary-pushing colors, patterns, and textile. 

The runway was an excitement to your senses. An iridescent performance was exhibited by the models who walked through a sequence of rooms with backdrops that celebrated art in its totality. The setting brought greater attention to the experience of feeling and visual awakening which Prada sought to create this year. This experience was heightened by the soundtrack - an original electronic piece by Plastikman aka Richie Hawtin.

The show was about the fusion of emotions and freedom. It transformed the abstraction of feeling into an abstraction of freedom. The goal to free and expose the body was implemented in every stage of the runway. The clothing was reduced to be minimal in its structure so that it drapes over the body to avoid distraction from it. This show depicted the body as a canvas which allows us to celebrate its beauty via textile, color, and pattern. The jacquard-knit bodysuits create a streamlined “second skin”, serving to trace the figure as it is in a dynamic and flexible movement. These bodysuits are not any ‘one’ thing. They are both revealing and concealing. They emphasize physicality with tightness to show off the body and also don't with oversized cuts to cover the form. Some are styled alone while others were the base layer of an ensemble. They simply serve to denote both concealment and exposure, intimacy and distance, while remaining youthful and mature.

Some of the pieces reduced the shape of the garment to result in silhouettes that stand away from the frame. Single and double-breasted coats are constructed on rectilinear lines and that crafted a feeling of enjoyment and boldness by the wearer. The color and pattern used in the show excite the eye and the surfaces entice touch and curiosity. The fusion of masculinity and gentleness nurtured a runway that pushed the boundaries for menswear fashion. Men no longer are confined to neutral-toned fashion with structured tailoring. They can now express themselves through color, textile, and a deconstructed style. The Prada runway show nurtures this opportunity for menswear.

Another key feature of the runway worth celebrating is that the materials used in the Prada Fall/Winter 2021 Menswear digital show will be upcycled to find a new life at special product installations and pop-ups around the world. These materials will be donated to Meta - a circular economy project based in Milan that offers sustainable solutions to waste disposal. This is crucial in the fashion industry today with the push for sustainable production and consumption. The Prada show is standing boldly in not only growing the scope of menswear but also sustainable production and pushing to set the standard to a high level. 

The show left us in total awe. We were struck by the skill in the design and execution of this runway particularly around the subtlety of the focal message on freeing the body. We are in someway speechless by the eloquence of this runway and couldn't wait to publish this piece to share with you the beauty that was the Prada Fall/Winter 2021 Menswear collection.