Prada blurs the line between fiction and reality in look book film

Still from Prada’s “Real Fantasies Spring/Summer 2016″ film

Italian fashion house Prada is taking a surreal look at its spring/summer 2016 collection, peeling back the curtain on the conceptual references made in the designs.

“Real Fantasies” is an ongoing series for the label which interprets its collections through artistic film. In this manner, Prada elevates the look book beyond a flat compilation of imagery, turning it into something that simultaneously serves as entertainment and promotion.

“This reinterpretation of Prada collection is very surreal and conceptual, but in the same time it shows fragments of a daily life, live action models and artistically twisted world full of fantasies in a reoccurring signature palette of pale pink, green and mustard,”  said Anna Szubrycht, founder and president of Chic Being, a Santa Monica, CA-based luxury brand consultancy. “The project highlights the attitude of Prada and its core values:  simplicity mixed with poetry and sentimentalism.”

Ms. Szubrycht is not affiliated with Prada, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

Prada was unable to respond before press deadline.

Fact or fiction
For this sixteenth edition of Real Fantasies, Prada again worked with AMO, a research and design firm that is part of the architecture partnership OMA, which includes Rem Koolhaus.

AMO has been producing Prada’s look books since the spring/summer 2007 season, integrating graphics and imagery with the collection. Since 2012, this collaboration has turned into Real Fantasies, adding animation and music to create a short film.

“The Real Fantasies series is always an intriguing and surprising proposition for both customers and whole fashion world,” Ms. Szubrycht said. “This short animated movie is a direct reference to the runway shows, where customers can feel as though they were participating in this hypnotic world of Italian fashion house.”

For spring/summer 2016, AMO’s video is informed by the show venue it created for Prada, the Indefinite Hangar. For this project, AMO draped fiberglass stalactites from the ceiling and created elliptical seating formations, covering both benches and floor in concrete to make the line between floor and chair nonexistent.

Now, AMO is reinterpreting its structural design into film, reestablishing the blurred boundaries as a sunset contained in a three-dimensional blank space. Throughout the film, the horizon constantly changes as the fictional landscape evolves, giving way to new vignettes of daily life.

Image from Prada’s Real Fantasies for spring/summer 2016

At the start, models stand casually in small groups against a white backdrop as a band of bright color sweeps across the frame. This backdrop morphs into a home with the addition of a few pieces of modular white furniture, on which model fastens her pump.

Another player walks up to an amp, dialing up what looks like the volume. Instead, this causes a storm of spheres that resemble Prada earrings to rain from the sky.

Outside, a male model jogs down a street, indicated by graphic street lamps. As he runs, the white lamp posts turn into window frames in the wall of a train station.

Image from Prada’s Real Fantasies for spring/summer 2016

The train whirs by with a bevy of models on-board, eventually arriving at the same scene as the beginning of the film.

This social video stands alone from Prada’s ad campaigns for the season, allowing the brand to drive different actions with each piece of content.

Prada Real Fantasies Spring Summer 2016

New season
Digital media has enabled labels to change up the manner in which they present their look books.

For instance, French footwear and accessories label Roger Vivier showed off its latest styles through a retro-futuristic comic book-themed spring catalog.

“Super Vivier” tells the story of a fashionable woman and her sidekick shoes and handbags who help her defeat boring style. By featuring its products in the context of a narrative, the brand lengthened the time consumers likely spent engaging with the new collections (see story).

Also, footwear and accessories label Christian Louboutin is building intrigue around its spring collection with a murderous plot.

Turning consumers into the detectives themselves, “Who Killed Amazoula?” tells the tale of a glamorous Parisian’s demise as it follows those attempting to solve the mystery of her death. Throughout the short, Christian Louboutin is able to naturally show off its spring/summer 2016 collection as the gumshoes gather evidence in the victim’s apartment (see story).

“[Prada's] video is very playful and charming in its visual message,” Ms. Szubrycht said. “It is focused more on the inspirational and entertaining side of the story rather than on promotion of specific looks from the spring collection.

“Adding shoppable features could enhance promotional side of it,” she said. “The question is: would it create more desire?”

from Luxury Daily » Apparel and accessories http://www.luxurydaily.com/prada-blurs-the-line-between-fiction-and-reality-in-look-book-film/
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