Fashion, a victim of itself, seeks help in instinct
PRADA FW25 Men – The operation carried out by designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons at Prada is of the highest level in contemporary fashion today. In Milan, during MFW 2025, the Prada FW25 men’s collection was presented at the Fondazione Prada space.
The Preparation for a Much-Anticipated Show
Prada’s shows, eagerly awaited by the entire fashion community, require a preparation that often eludes newcomers. The world around us is complex. We live in a globalized world, and this cannot be ignored in the narrative of fashion. A brand born in Milan now communicates with the entire world. It is impossible not to know Prada and Miuccia Prada.
If a newcomer looks at the looks on the runway compared to what is available in stores, the first impression is often to wonder who would ever wear these clothes and why. This aspect is important, especially considering that the brand’s sales are booming.
Here, the designers work on two levels of communication, knowing well that behind the shows there is an industry crowd and that the runway is now a tool to build hype and provide much-anticipated content to the media.
As usual, there are Asian stars and a large group of fans who even improvise a set with letters and balloons for the guests. Among the Prada ambassadors were Harris Dickinson, Soohyun Kim, Damson Idris, Troye Sivan, and Mahmood, as well as Sana, Joseph Quinn, and Li Xian.
The Construction of the Collection Prada FW25 Men
Behind this well-oiled mechanism that works for the brand is the work the designers do on mood boards and the construction of the collection that the duo successfully achieves. Although we must admit, in the recent Miu Miu collections, the “sister” brand allows Miuccia to express herself more freely. But the challenge is having Raf Simons by her side and continuing to create a productive dualism.
In this PRADA FW25 men’s collection, all the visceral instincts that every creative faces in front of a blank page are put in the spotlight. Not only that, but these primal impulses are essential for our daily lives.
With furs, sheepskin, and cowboy boots, the show kicks off. The collection explores how emotions and primal impulses, coming from the depths of our nature, influence our behavior and creative expression.
There’s sportswear, ready-to-wear, and much more. What emerges is the workspace before creating a synthesis. This synthesis is perhaps left to the viewer. What the designers do is channel a state of mind into a world full of complexity, technology, and fashion.
The PRADA FW25 Men’s Collection
The title of the show is “Unbroken Instincts,” an expression of instinct. Instinct is the central theme of the collection, presented as something that guides creativity and choices.
Romanticism is at the core of the collection. It rises above the rational, elevating emotions and passions. Choices are spontaneous. Planned decisions give way to truth and honesty. In instinct, there is a new refinement and an intimate, wild elegance.
Basic desires and emotions, such as passion, hunger, and fear, are natural and unaffected by rationality or culture. “Romanticism” is not just an idealized vision of love, but a movement that values emotion, intuition, and passion, emphasizing spontaneity rather than rationality.
In the collection, the structured and planned approach gives way to more authentic, natural, and immediate choices. What emerges is a new form of refinement and an elegance that is not artificial, but instead visceral and primal, more connected to a sense of authenticity and naturalness.
The collection plays with contrasts, such as materials, colors, or shapes that are not rationally planned, but emerge spontaneously. These contrasts create surprising and seductive combinations that provoke an emotional and visceral reaction.
The garments, despite their spontaneity, respond to a deep need for protection and comfort. There is a search for intimacy, a desire for refuge and security that the clothes must offer to the wearer.
Materials and Symbolism
Among the materials, sheepskin, warm and soft, is described as an element that envelops the body, giving a sense of comfort and protection. It is a symbol of intimacy and sensuality, which can be worn over or under other garments, accentuating this feeling of refuge and security.
The garments feature symbolic details, such as metallic decorations, which do not have a rational or explicit meaning. These symbols are described as amulets, as if they have the power to protect the wearer, although their meaning remains mysterious and subjective.
However, nothing is left to instinct. The music, for example, comes from a playlist featuring Angelo Badalamenti, Shigeru Umebayashi, and Michaela Nyman. And towards the end, Puccini. The music aligns with the show, mixing genres.
The Set and Show Space
Finally, the space for the scenography and the set design, which they refer to as “showspace,” was once again designed by the AMO group (an internal studio to Rem Koolhaas’s OMA). For the show, AMO transformed the Fondazione Prada’s Depot into an exploration of contrast. A raw industrial metal structure contrasts with the tactile carpet designed by Catherine Martin, a juxtaposition that alters and enriches the perception of both elements.
Inside, the space is divided into a series of levels, contradicting the monumental size of the hall, with varying lights and atmospheres that evoke cinematic scenes. Recalling the intimate and confidential nature of a club, they bring us back to places where the most immediate of human instincts, the need to be together, is expressed.
PRADA FW25 Men: A Provocative Interpretation
The work accomplished is truly an instinct for products. While cowboy boots appear in many versions, they arrive a bit late compared to the already-established trend emerging in the fashion world, almost on the fringe of the western trend’s actual explosion.
Including those with floral prints, which along with sneakers will be on trend. There are also excesses, like earrings that are miniature basketballs, and loafers with large studs, also seen in the SS25 collection. Among the bizarre pieces, there is also the pristine white pajama.
Prada reinterprets reality, with references to Lynch and his disappearance, or the American world with its Trumpian decline. In a homogenous, conservative world that resists change, new stories are being written. But is the work always credible, even when they themselves have amplified a system they are now trying to condemn? Is the brand perhaps a victim of itself?
