After Prada debuted their Winter/Fall 2013 collection, way back in January, the runway was filled with famous celebs looking kind of steampunk, dressed in long overcoats with 19th century details all coupling a retro-futuristic ’60s vibe. Now, Prada released the accompanying video lookbook–designed and directed by AMO called Real Fantasies. The video which clocks in at two minutes and showcases roughly 20 looks, is a lo-fi collage of grainy still photos, video, and electronic bleeps.
View the video here
The video references a handful of cultural touchstones, including the Matrix, Metropolis, Delirious New York, Kraftwerk, and Neuromancer. In a vague way, it refers to AMO’s concept of the Kinetic Elite, a class of future humans for whom life is a succession of airplanes and hotels. It depicts “a dystopian society of machines and jagged geometries, genetically perfected clones roam digital colonies, engrossed in oblique and possibly deviant power dynamics,” according to the designers.
The video ends up looking like an architecture school project produced by an Albert Speer/Archizoom collab. In fact, it was art directed by AMO’s Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and Fausto Fantinuoli, with art from a team including Jeroen Koolhaas–one half of muralist group Haas&Hahn.
OMA’s 15-year collaboration with Prada has been long and fruitful, producing a handful of stores, events, and of course, the Transformer. The two companies, in a way, have a similarly inclusive view of contemporary lifestyle (Koolhaas famously argued that “everything is shopping and shopping is everything”). The Rotterdam office has also designed Prada’s runway shows, including the Milan debut of this collection.
