At Prada Spring 2025 Show, Raf Simons and Mrs. Prada Resurrect Old Classics

Prada presented its spring 2025 collection in Milan today, in a room devoid of its usual elaborate scenography, opting instead for a series of benches covered in turquoise fabric. As usual, Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons had a completely new proposition for the new season with stylized nuclear masks from the atomic age and an extra-slim silhouette that often swapped pants and skirts for simple thick tights, worn with a belt; all parading through a winding labyrinth to a soundtrack that included “Rocket USA” by Suicide and a sample of Cibo Matto.

The models had plenty of surprises, though, and not just in their playful take on Gen Z’s new favorite shoe, the cowboy boot. The designers seemed to resurrect many of Prada’s most iconic styles from the past. The crisscrossed leather flat from the nerd-chic spring 1996 collection, the striped heels with architectural details from the lace-up fall 2008 collection, the platform brogues from the tropical-electric spring 2011 collection, and the super-high rubber-dipped Mary Janes from fall 2012.

This isn’t the first time the designers have referenced themselves (spring 2021 notably brought back the “ugly” geometric print also from spring 1996); it was nonetheless an unexpected surprise given their penchant for an extreme, and perhaps dark, take on futurism.

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