Four years into this unprecedented partnership between Prada co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, and there are seemingly no signs of stopping the duo from creating directional collections season after season. The Prada Spring/Summer 2025 menswear collection will be their eighth menswear collection together, which has seen a combination of Mrs Prada's prints and studied eccentricities with Simons' penchant for outerwear and oversized aesthetics.
But more than mere fusion of styles, the collections thus far have also been a deep dive into the Prada archives. We've seen prints being revived and remixed, and odes to shows of the past adapted into more contemporary contexts. And there's little reason to doubt that we'll be seeing more of those for this upcoming collection.
For confirmation of what the Prada Spring/Summer 2025 menswear collection will look like, stay tuned for the show this Sunday. And for an even closer look at the collection, follow @esquiresg on Instagram as we bring you the action live from Milan Fashion Week Men's.
What: Prada Spring/Summer 2025 menswear runway show
Where: Milan, Italy
When: Sunday, 16 June 2024 at 8pm Singapore time
It was a visual overload at Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear runway show.
For starters, the entire showspace had once again been completely reimagined from the previous Spring/Summer 2024 shows. We were stepping into an elevated glass platform and beneath it was a riverbed landscape of greens, rocks and pebbles, and at certain sections, flowing water. Chairs that seemed to be positioned rather haphazardly (but of course they weren’t) were typical rollers you’d find in an office setting—these became the show seats and might I add, pretty comfortable too.
And of course, the number of international celebrities that were greeted with screaming fans as they made their way into Fondazione Prada. Newly appointed Prada ambassadors Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Troye Sivan were there, as did a host of other fellow ambassadors such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Kentaro Sakaguchi and Win Metawin, as well as Korean stars Karina of Aespa and Lee Jae-wook. To say that it was chaotic in the showspace as editors gathered for sound bites and content would be an understatement.
But at the end of it all, it was really about the clothes and Prada hardly ever disappoints. As both the invite and showspace teased, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons explored the traditional confines of office wear and simply turn them on their heads for a collection that was rebellious and youthful in nature.
The fit: The tie became sort of the centre of the entire collection, a symbol of that rigid connotations in an office setting. Nothing was altered when it came to the tie but its symbolic attribute was what pretty much tied the entire collection together.
Standard office dress codes were designed with skewed proportions. Suiting consisted of oversized blazers with slightly nipped-in waists and exaggerated lapels, as well as trousers that were worn low on the hips with signature Prada slim cut. And if you were expecting colours that corporate Joe would be at home in, you’d be sorely mistaken. Bold hues permeated throughout the collection with knit cardigans, jumpers and textured leggings—beautifully constructed that you wouldn't even notice a single seam—and those knit swim caps. There were no explanation for the latter but I gather if you're already one foot out the door in a corporate setting, you'd want to take the chance to head to the pool any chance you get, winter or not.
Oversized coats were consistent standouts (we all know how both Mrs Prada and Simons love their coats) especially when the inspiration transitioned from office uniforms to more public service types. Military- and navy-inspired outerwear were crafted in a number of materials and looked especially killer when they were individually worn and distressed by hand.
The details: Back to the trousers for a bit. Upon closer inspection, in place of waistbands, trousers were sewn together with leather belts. That's right: there's no longer any excuses not to wear a belt with your formal trousers. The belts came in a number of iterations too—from more classic colours and widths to the more extravagant woven ones that reached up to a width of 9cm.
The belts were also applied on to the bags. Re-Nylon backpacks and messenger bags came with the same range of leather belts for multiple ways of carrying each piece. A clear favourite was a backpack in washed navy with worn out details applied to every leather trim for a stunning distressed effect.
Three exceptional looks: Look 19's super cool reworking of the trench; look 36's oversized military coat that I now have on my wish list; and Prada's take on the Canadian tuxedo in look 45.
The takeaway: This is for all of us who'd escape the confines of a 9 to 5 in a heartbeat; and if that's not possible, at least the fashion channels the feeling.
View some of the key looks from the Prada Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear collection in the gallery below.
The collaboration continues with Prada as co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons are set to present their seventh menswear collection together. And after revealing a pretty star-studded Spring/Summer 2024 campaign too.
As with every Prada runway show, clues to what the Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear collection could look like is vague at best. The physical invite to the show—a rather massive one at that—is a folio pictured with a natural landscape and contains a single Prada tie. Tagged to it is a card that says that the tie's authentication certificate has been uploaded on the Aura Blockchain Consortium platform—founded by Prada together with LVMH and Cartier in 2021. Further teasers include similar portrayals of natural landscapes splashed on desktop screens in an office setting.
Perhaps, what we'll be witnessing is an evolution of officewear codes (Prada does have a thing for uniforms) imbued with semblances of digital applications. The staging for Spring/Summer 2024 included slime; could this season's showspace see digital renderings of nature in surreal ways?
For any confirmation, stay tuned for the show this Sunday. And for an even closer look at the collection, follow @esquiresg on Instagram as we bring you the action live from Milan Fashion Week.
What: Prada Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear runway show
Where: Milan, Italy
When: Sunday, 14 January at 9pm Singapore time
A new trio of actors have ascended as the face of Prada's latest menswear campaign. The Spring/Summer 2024 menswear campaign features—for the very first time—Harris Dickinson, Troye Sivan, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. and lensed by Willy Vanderperre. All brilliant actors in their own right, just like how they each embody different characters from role to role, they portray the transformative nature of fashion coupled with Prada's penchant for stylistic juxtaposition.
We finally have a firm date for Dior Men's upcoming Fall 2024 runway show in Hong Kong. The show is set to take place on 23 March 2024—a break from its usual tradition of a December showing. While there isn't a show venue announced yet, it's safe to say that the fashion house will definitely not be taking over the city's Avenue of Stars that was the site for Louis Vuitton's show in November last year.
Pharrell Williams' first collection for Louis Vuitton has officially hit boutiques this week. And the collection's latest face—the first was a pregnant Rihanna debuted as a lead-up to the runway show last year—is none other than LeBron James. The professional athlete was already pictured with Williams' reworked Louis Vuitton Speedy back in October and made the announcement on social media almost immediately, but we now have the full slate of the campaign going live. And let's just say that it's about time that James is given the LV spotlight.
Saint Laurent's latest at Singapore's Paragon is a two-floor boutique that's unlike the others. The brand new design concept by Anthony Vaccarello is both raw and refined—quite like his creations for the House of late. Industrial grey concrete flooring is juxtaposed with grigio alpi marble walls and blue lumen marble as well as golden spider marble furnishings. The new boutique houses Saint Laurent's collection across all its categories and features a VIP room located on the second floor.
It’s kind of baffling to think that Tom Holland has only just turned 27. The British actor got his big break on the West End stage as Billy Elliott in the heady days of 2008, and the well-received film and TV roles that followed were enough to convince Marvel to take a chance on him as their new Spider-Man. That was nine years ago, and he’s been (quite literally) hanging around our screens ever since, in some of the highest-grossing movies of the past decade. Not too shabby, and that’s without mentioning a certain Lip Sync Battle…
It's a formidable rise, and one that’s reflected in the evolution of his ever-impressive wardrobe. Over the past few years, Holland has increasingly found himself at the centre of a fashion multiverse. You might have heard that he’s in a relationship with Euphoria actor Zendaya, and that the couple once shared a stylist: retired fashion behemoth Law Roach. Over the years, Roach became the right-hand man to Z as well as the mastermind behind looks worn by Lewis Hamilton and fellow Spider-Man, Shameik Moore. Roach’s assistant Crystalle Cox has travelled everywhere from Italy to LA alongside the self-styled “image maker” and after a number of years getting to know Holland along the way, it seemed the perfect time for Cox to take on the mantle of overseeing Holland’s outfits.
The actor’s looks, of late, have straddled contemporary menswear and vintage classics: 50s rockabilly meets cool, calm 70s tailoring, with a dash of minimal modernity for good measure. Easy, breezy pieces imbued with personality and a well-fitted silhouette were what both Cox and Holland aligned with in his press run wardrobe for Apple TV’s latest release The Crowded Room, a true crime drama inspired by Daniel Keyes’ 1981 non-fiction novel The Minds of Billy Milligan, in which he plays a man accused of a gruesome crime.
The 10-episode drama takes place during the summer of 1979, and Cox was significantly inspired by the stars and styles of the era for the show’s press run. She tells me that “off-duty Steve McQueen, Robert Redford’s tailored looks, and even John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever suit” were big points of reference. Disregarding a buttoned-up shirt and tie look for formal engagements, collars were left open and suiting, courtesy of Prada for The Crowded Room premiere’s red carpet, came in a retro-inspired forest green (which, during the fitting at his home, both Cox and Holland noticed the shade mirrored that of his kitchen-come-dressing room).
The actor became the face of Prada after being snapped by David Sims for their SS22 campaign, so approaching the Italian fashion house for Holland’s custom looks was a no-brainer. The process, according to Cox, was seamless: “Tom is incredibly easy to work with and the Prada team were so forthcoming and collaborative. They went to lengths to create a look that felt elevated for Tom, but still in-keeping with his personal style”.
Cox delved into the Prada archive, selecting standout looks from seasons old and new and approached the Prada team with preferences: look 28 and 31 from their AW23 men’s collection. “Tom gravitated towards the slick straight leg of the trousers and I liked the boxy shape of the top,” says Cox. Striking middle ground, Prada added a zip to the top, modifying the runway look into an effortlessly everyday jacket for Holland.
But it’s not just Prada you’ve seen Holland wear. For the Monaco Grand Prix, an AMI shirt – in his favourite emerald shade – was slung over a vest and finished with crisp Zegna trainers. In New York on his birthday, a striped knit from British menswear label King & Tuckfield was combined with Percival and good ol’ G.H.Bass loafers. Refreshingly, his press wardrobe is peppered with affordable and approachable menswear, meaning that fans don’t have to save up for a piece of Raf and Miuccia to nail a superhero’s style.
Which is to say, you don't need to be a movie star to replicate Holland’s look. “Our approach is uncomplicated really: it’s trend lead of course, but also relies on those foolproof classics,” Cox tells me. “The key really is keeping it fresh and elevated with simple but slick pieces, whilst considering comfort and wearability – particularly on those long junket days”.
Speaking of the publicity trail, Holland has temporarily hung up his Spider-Man latex in favour of dancing shoes, confirming he’ll be part of a Fred Astaire biopic that begins filming early next year. If Cox’s styling hasn't convinced you to invest in a perfectly tailored wardrobe this summer, just wait until that press tour rolls around.
