100 years of Prada: Anna Battista on the phenomenon of the brand

This year, the Italian brand Prada is one hundred years old. Most of its history, the brand produced good leather bags, but a quarter of a century ago Communist Miuccia Prada became its creative director, turning the company into the most influential institution of the fashion industry.

Text: Anna Battista

Why, from season to season, everyone wants "those plastic sandals or Prada boa fur," says Anna Battista, a journalist and creator of the Irenebrination analytical blog.

Say "Prada", and in your head instantly there will be an image of luxurious dresses that devoutly adore - up to admiration - fashionistas around the world. The family business, created in Milan a hundred years ago by brothers Mario and Martino Prada, has evolved from a company that manufactures high-quality leather goods to a fashion house, and then to a "place of power".

Prada is an octopus-holding, stretching its tentacles into many spheres, not only in fashion. The brand has its own cultural institute Prada Foundation, through which it comes into contact with art. She has a strong connection with architecture - thanks to the flagship stores, the design for which was developed by Rem Koolhaas from OMA, and collaborations with the research center of the architect, AMO. The brand’s connection with cinema is even stronger: he created costumes for the anime comic Appleseed: Ex Machina Shinji Aramaki in 2008 and more recently for the Great Gatsby Baz Lurman. A team of actors, including Gary Oldman, Willem Dafoe and Adrien Brody, decorated the Prada FW 2012 men's show, and last year the company attracted the legendary Roman Polanski to shoot A Therapy video shown in Cannes. Let's not take into account all Hollywood actresses who put Prada on the red carpet: for example, Anne Hathaway at the last Oscar ceremony. Prada also participated in the work on the opera ("Attila" by Giuseppe Verdi staged by the Metropolitan Opera 2010;); the performance (Meng Jinhu's "Love Utopia" of 2011) and even intervened in the sport by developing the shape of the Italian national sailing team for the 2012 Olympic Games. Do not forget that Patrizio Bertelli, Miuccia Prada's husband and brand executive director, is a big name in sailing: he created and sponsored the Luna Rossa team. Recently, the company began to penetrate into the world of gastronomy, acquiring Cova, a Milan pastry shop with a long history. Nevertheless, the main achievement of Prada in the financial sector today is the IPO in 2011.

PRADA - HOLDING OSMINOG, EXTENDED OWN GIFTS IN A LOT OF SPHERES

In a financially crippled and politically unstable Italy, where women always get second roles, Prada is an impressive success story. Last year, the company reported revenue growth of 29%, and its sales reached 3.29 billion euros for the year. At the same time, Miuccia ranked 67th in the women's hundred Forbes.

However, 25 years ago, Prada was known for pretty nylon bags, and not lifestyle products for all occasions. How is it that the devil really wears Prada? Is Miuccia a financial genius or just a lucky industry player? Let's take a look at the process of "creating Prada" and try to find the answer.

Miuccia Prada studied political science, attended mime courses at a theater institute, joined the Communist Party, joined feminists, and after all this joined the family business in the late 1970s. Some time later, her current husband, Patrizio Bertelli, was appointed CEO of the company. The expansion of the brand began in the 80s, and the first success came after a few years when Miuccia created basic black nylon backpacks inspired by industrial design. The first women's collection Prada debuted in Milan in 1989, in 1995 it was followed by men.

Collection after collection, critics have come to unanimity about Prada’s greatness, and loyal bloggers in the past five years have become not only loyal fans of the brand, but also a valuable asset for promoting Prada among the younger generation. The reason for the success of the collections of Miucci? Pastish of the most well-tailored and outstanding design things in the history of fashion. Miucci does not formally have a fashionable education, she is not a dressmaker or designer in the literal sense of the word à la Gianfranco Ferret, she does not paint, but she acts - finding long-forgotten things from a coat from a Parisian vintage shop to 40s from rare black and white films, and recreates them without changing a stitch. In many cases, Prada reissues and remixes: it is no secret that if you close the archives of women's magazines from past decades, sooner or later you will come across Prada onions. In a world where most designers draw inspiration from modern sources, an appeal to the past is just what keeps Miuccia on top.

For years, skillful trend spotters have seen in the Prada show images of Jeanne Moreau from Eva by Joseph Elk and Carmen Miranda from The Gang's All Here Busby Berkeley ... Monica Vitti from The Night by Michelangelo Antonioni and The Adventures of Modest Blaze by Joseph Lawzy (remember that the color patterns of Joseph Lawzy (remember the two color patterns) SS 2011?). Jill Kennington and Sophia Loren. Joan Crawford from "Mildred Pierce" (although it was read in the collection of Miu Miu FW 2011). The list is long and also includes bows from Elio Petri’s Tenth Sacrifice, collages from works by futurist Andre Kurrej and oriental styles, plus shoes based on Jean Mazabras shoes for the Seducta brand Charles Jordan, patented in the USA in 1981.

It's funny that the more accurate Miuccia copies things from the past, the more successful it becomes. Take a new collection, shown last Thursday at Milan Fashion Week. Claimed by the designer as a model of imperfect elegance, it is in fact a sensual remix of the 40s and 50s, updated for the generation of iPad owners. Fascinated by catchy kaleidoscopic digital prints and frankly sexy clothes, this generation unexpectedly discovers real fabrics and the charm of an ordinary coat. Miuccia is savvy not only in the selection, mixing and collision of different eras, she also manages to challenge the expectations of fans with her unpredictability: the women's collection of the SS 2013 season combined Japaneseism and furs with colors from the 60s, and the next season is devoted to the atmosphere of black and white film noir.

The next step of the brand is easy to guess: such large-scale events as last year’s exhibition about Prada and Sciaparelli at the Metropolitan Museum are not planned, but the anniversary will be celebrated with a continuation of the expansion to Asia, and, without a doubt, at the Venice Biennale in June, fashion parties will be held, complemented by art an exhibition at the Venetian branch of the Prada Foundation at the Ca 'Corner della Regina. Before this, at the April Milan Design Week, they will launch the AMO furniture line, a preview of which we saw at the Prada men's show in January. Rem Koolhaas, appointed director of the International Architecture Exhibition 2014, will surely involve Miuccia Prada in this event. Already, the architect and designer are working on a new museum of modern art, which will open during the local exhibition Expo 2015 (expect Miuccia to develop a uniform for its employees).

Only one link is missing: Prada and Russia. But Rem Koolhaas, director of Strelka, is currently working on Dasha Zhukova’s Garage in Gorky Park. So, perhaps, very soon Moscow mods will get their own piece of Prada - and even a piece of a festive cake in honor of the centenary of the brand.