London’s Design Museum to Stage Prada Retrospective
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PRADA CALLING: In listing its program of upcoming shows, London’s Design Museum revealed a grand retrospective on Prada will be unveiled in September.
Claiming that the exhibition “will offer unprecedented insight into Prada’s creative approach, inspirations and landmark collaborations,” the museum aims to explore the brand’s evolution as global enterprise.
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Dubbed “Prada. Front and Back,” the show will be divided in different sections to reflect such a theme and convey “both the surface of fashion and the creative and industrial infrastructure on which it depends,” according to the presentation published on the location’s web site.
“Miuccia Prada’s story is unique…With her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, she has changed the way that people dress, redefined how we understand luxury, explored new materials and technologies and invested passionately in art, design and architecture. She has made Prada the essence of modernity,” concludes the statement.
This won’t be the only time the Design Museum will prove its bias for the fashion industry.
Prior to the Prada exhibit, the “Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street” show will also make its debut. Opening in May, it will focus on sneakers and their design process, showcasing limited editions, cult classics and brand collaborations that have shaped the sneaker scene, defined its popularity, encouraged the high-fashion reinterpretation of these styles, as well as originated the current reselling fixation.
Previously, in 2018 the museum saluted Azzedine Alaïa with a retrospective named “Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier.” As reported, back then the designer helped to curate the show before he died of heart failure. Working with Mark Wilson, chief curator of the Groninger Museum, Alaïa staged an exhibit looking back to his life and the impact his work had worldwide.
Founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran, the Design Museum was originally located on Shad Thames in East London, where it hosted more than 100 shows, including the blockbuster “Hello, My Name is Paul Smith,” and “Women Fashion Power,” and showcased the works of Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry, among many others.
In 2016, the museum moved to its current venue at 224-238 Kensington High Street, in a historic Sixties building. The relocation gave the institution three times more space, as it now spans 108,000 square feet to include two gallery spaces dedicated to temporary shows, the free “Designer Maker User” showcase and the Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning. It also houses the Bakala auditorium, the Sackler Library and a designers-in-residence studio. There is also a shop café, restaurant and members’ area, offering views over Holland Park.
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