EXCLUSIVE: Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons's First Joint Podcast Interview
The Run-Through with Vogue
In this exclusive interview, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons discuss their collaborative creative process following the Prada Spring Summer 2/7
Key takeaways
- The SS27 collection focused on the skirt as a modernist, rectangular object similar to a T-shirt.
- Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons do not rely on traditional sketching but rather assemble fabrics and discuss ideas with their team.
Main topics
- Prada SS27 Collection
- Creative Design Process
Notable quotes
I became a fashion designer because I didn't find anything to wear.
Conclusion
The episode provides a rare, intimate look into the unified creative v
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:01) This is The Run-Through. I'm Chloe Mell. And today I am here at Prada HQ in Milan, the day after the Prada Spring Summer 2027 show with Mrs. Prada and Mr. Simmons. We are in the beautiful headquarters in the room where the top of the slide is, which is very exciting to me who spends so much time at Speaker 2 (0:24) playgrounds. It's a very thrilling headquarters to be in. So I'm very excited. Speaker 3 (0:29) Also, I can't believe that I get to speak to you both the day after the show, which was so beautiful, and everyone has been so excited about it. I feel that everyone who loves skirts is rejoicing. It's been sort of the skirt mafia has risen. And I like that you both call the skirts a Prada obsession, and I want to know... how this collection started around a skirt. If it started there or if it kind of worked its way down to that. It Speaker 1 (0:58) started with the skirts or if over time it really started. We always start with conversation. So early in the design season, early in the design process, and we both felt like, ah, we are interested to focus on skirts. How early Speaker 3 (1:19) in the process does that happen? This year, at the beginning, at the very beginning. Speaker 1 (1:24) Yeah, I don't know. Speaker 2 (1:25) Yes, I remember. Somewhere. The timing and that. Speaker 1 (1:30) But Speaker 3 (1:30) is it soon after the last show? Not Speaker 1 (1:33) so soon after the last show. So you take a minute Speaker 3 (1:37) and then it comes to start discussing. Speaker 1 (1:39) We don't start super early. Okay. Right? Speaker 2 (1:43) Actually not. Actually, it's that very late. Stop talking about it. Speaker 1 (1:48) So Speaker 3 (1:49) you start with a conversation. I loved that, Raf, you, in Nicole's review, you said that you had referenced the Charlie Rose interview where Mrs. Speaker 1 (1:57) That came much later. Oh, Speaker 3 (1:59) interesting. Much, much Speaker 1 (1:59) later. First Speaker 3 (2:00) you talked about skirts and then you talked about... Yeah, Speaker 1 (2:01) and then I said like, oh, but why don't we go like all the way skirts, like every look skirt? And then she said, I love that idea. That's how it started. Speaker 2 (2:10) Yes, because since the men's collection where we did only trousers, recently we are interested in approaching one single garment and see what happens. So this season, because we came from only one white trouser, and now it was only about skirt, which by chance is something that for me was always very relevant. Speaker 3 (2:38) Well, and Rafa, will you tell us about the Charlie Rose interview that you found? Because I loved that quote. Speaker 1 (2:42) It Speaker 3 (2:42) was Speaker 1 (2:43) very late. It was only a few weeks ago. And it was somebody from the team who showed it to me. And I thought it was really interesting. Speaker 3 (2:54) And Mrs. Speaker 2 (2:54) Prada, you said that to you, a skirt is like a T-shirt. Yes, in the sense that usually in T-shirts you put your ideas. Speaker 3 (3:02) And Speaker 2 (3:02) for me, I put my ideas on a skirt. waist down, so not near the face, basically. And because it's where you can have all the possibility. You can have all the ideas here that is not near your face, so you can be free to be free. Speaker 3 (3:22) A Speaker 2 (3:23) sweater, something simple. And also, the skirt allows to compose your different selves. Speaker 2 (3:34) feminine, masculine, sexy, severe. In that sense, I like the skirt because it needs another thing. Then it can show more complexity, the complexity that we are. It's an important building block. Also because in one dress, what you do, you are one thing. With a skirt, you can be at least two or three. Speaker 2 (3:59) Plus the shoes, plus... Speaker 3 (4:01) So if it starts with the skirt, do you start by thinking about the different versions of skirts or you think first with entire looks together? I'm just curious how that process evolves. Speaker 1 (4:11) Very much this time it was really approaching the skirt as an object. And then, of course, in the beginning, you think maybe we should go in a lot of different directions. But then also quite in the beginning already we said... like interesting to work in a more kind of restricted, informal language, but then open everything up in terms of possibility and material. And so at the, you know, we decided early on that it wouldn't be like a train skirt and a historical skirt and a marriage skirt and a mini skirt. No, that would, no, you know, because we are both specific, there is also a specific kind of form language that we like at a certain point in time. So that's... And Speaker 2 (4:59) it's more like a t-shirt because a t-shirt is rectangular. That's why we insisted on this idea of a simple shape. So you are obliged to put your idea into... actually modern, a modernist shape. Speaker 1 (5:14) Because we also felt like we don't want historical, for example. Speaker 3 (5:18) How do you decide on what the set will look like? Because the set was the same or similar to the men's set? This Speaker 1 (5:24) time, for the first time, exactly, exactly the same. Because we loved it. Speaker 3 (5:31) You rebuilt it or you kept it? Speaker 1 (5:33) We kept it. Okay, good. Yeah. Sometimes we change it, sometimes we adapt it, but we really liked the shower space very much this time. It's Speaker 2 (5:42) so simple, but somehow so strong. And this idea that we developed for men and now for women, they work very well there. Mrs. Speaker 3 (5:51) Prada, Speaker 2 (5:52) you Speaker 3 (5:52) wear a lot of skirts yourself. Speaker 2 (5:54) How Speaker 3 (5:55) do you think about your archive of Prada skirts? Do you wear skirts from many of your collections over the years? Do you tend to do more Speaker 2 (6:02) recent? Pieces? Depends. Sometimes I readjust or change a bit some. Maybe there is something I like, but maybe it's not enough or the proportion is not right, so maybe I redo them. Speaker 1 (6:16) Depends. Speaker 3 (6:17) But you don't, for example, have skirts from 1988 collection that you're still wearing today? Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:24) Could do. I Speaker 2 (6:26) don't dedicate a lot of time. to dress. I dress very quickly, mainly when I have to go to work, Speaker 3 (6:37) in this kind of uniform. What Speaker 2 (6:39) is your uniform? Maybe one period is a pleated skirt, one period is an A-line skirt, one period is something else. Speaker 1 (6:49) Well, it never looks to me as if it was a very fast decision, but I know it is. Of Speaker 2 (6:54) course, maybe I'm thinking about something or a color, so it... I try a piece of a color or a shape, but after I have no time to, so I put another simple stuff. But I, because very often I'm searching the next silhouette or the next color or decoration or decoration. Speaker 3 (7:14) Are there any other brands that you buy and wear or Speaker 2 (7:18) try? No, actually I became a fashion designer because I didn't find anything to wear. Speaker 2 (7:27) Raph, do you Speaker 3 (7:27) wear... I used Speaker 2 (7:28) to wear a lot of vintage. Okay. Back then, before I was doing my... Do you Speaker 3 (7:34) have any of those pieces that you've given to daughter-in-laws? Yes, of course. I keep it all. Wow. Every floor. Wow. In an archive separately or at your home? In an archive separate. Wow. Do you ever look at those for inspiration when you're thinking Speaker 2 (7:52) about a collection? No, because I remember and I prefer to have the memory, even if it's not exactly, actually better. Maybe I remember some piece for something that actually doesn't exist. Speaker 3 (8:07) Both of you have worked independently as designers for a long time, but this is six years that you've been together at Prada. And I am always amused reading press reviews that guess which part of the collection each of you designs. And then you've said that often it's the reverse. I'm so Speaker 1 (8:24) happy with this question because it's so often not true. what used to be written. So often it's not true. Speaker 2 (8:34) Why do you think that is sometimes really difficult? Speaker 1 (8:36) I don't know. I think people kind of like to place you in a box. Speaker 2 (8:41) Do you think Speaker 1 (8:42) you purposely... It's Speaker 3 (8:43) not me Speaker 1 (8:43) critiquing the people who write that, but like that's just how it goes. Probably we do that as well. But probably here people would think like all the skirts are from Ujja, all the leather is from Rav, which is completely not the case, but it doesn't matter. Speaker 3 (8:58) Do you think that shows... an instinct that both of you are inspired to be thinking the way the other maybe is thinking, or it's just that people are wrong about their assumptions of which sensibilities belong to each of you? Speaker 2 (9:11) I think it's much more complex than that because actually we decided to work together because we had very similar sensibilities. And so from many points of view, we have the same ideas. Of course, each one has his. way of thinking. I Speaker 3 (9:30) love that you said a while ago that you wanted someone, if you want to know someone, you want to work with them. Yes. That's the way you like to get to know someone. How did you know that you first wanted to work with Raf and get to know him that way? I don't Speaker 2 (9:45) even remember the story. Vertelli, Vertelli was... Speaker 1 (9:49) It goes back a long time. They placed me on Gelsander in 2006. Speaker 3 (9:57) But did you know each other well then? Speaker 1 (9:59) No, we didn't know each other at all at that time. Speaker 3 (10:02) Okay. Speaker 1 (10:03) Like... Speaker 2 (10:04) But I knew the work. Speaker 1 (10:06) Exactly what I was going to say as well. Because Speaker 2 (10:09) for me the important thing when they say I will present to people, for me it's enough to know the work. So you don't need to talk to the person. Speaker 1 (10:18) I remember. Speaker 2 (10:19) It's enough. I see what one person does. So that's what counts for me. Speaker 1 (10:25) Well, I remember Mr. Bertelli coming to Antwerp, sitting with us. in the kitchen discussing this possibility for Gilles Sandr. And it was a big surprise to me, of course. Speaker 3 (10:36) And Speaker 1 (10:37) that was quite a long time. What Speaker 3 (10:39) year was that, 2006? Speaker 1 (10:40) 2006 and for seven years. So he asked to travel to Milan to see me. And I didn't really understand. Speaker 1 (10:54) because I was like, what could that possibly be? You know, like Miuja is full on on both brands. Like I didn't really understand, but because we knew each other. And in the meantime, we had also seen each other a few more times. Dancing in Tokyo, I remember. Dancing in Tokyo, Speaker 3 (11:09) tell me about this. Speaker 1 (11:10) Well, that was a Miu Miu show where coincidentally me and my CEO, we were in Tokyo and then we were