this lookbook puts all other lookbooks to shame

the time to report on this s/s '09 collection has long passed, but i just recently discovered this lookbook at prada and cannot love/stare at it enough. it's just too beautiful for words. while most lookbooks from other designers feature one or two models and a boring white background, prada manages to push the envelope once again. why not? they keep pushing the idea of what a "brand" is and how it reaches the average consumer. this isn't just a clothing brand, it's more an experience. the prada experience! aaaah!

the look book allows for a really comprehensive look at the collection and how and where the inspirations stemmed from. i hate the word inspiration but for now it will do. when i first saw it on style it was described as "primitive"... i thought the models looked like roman busts, with their heads hair-spayed into oblivion and the very sculptural rumpling and crumpling of the garments. they looked like marble statues. and i guess "primitive" is the right word. it's historically ancient and ironically, so fundamentally Italian. in some ways the only word to describe it is original. the canon of western art history as we know it was established from this era of classical sculpture. the birth of modern europe. that's the interesting thing about the word "modern". other than it's function as historical marker, it also includes the temporal. this collection is about the modern european aesthetic, informed by that other, previous modern european aesthetic. miuccia prada always finds a way to reference the historic and it is never kitsch (not that kitsch is necessarily bad) but bold and manages to really stand on it's own.

i really love how they manipulated each image, sometimes it can seem pretty obvious but i think it really blurs the line between reality and imagery. the lookbook was a collaboration with AMO (part of Rem Koolhaus's OMA, who is Prada's go-to architect). I think AMO mostly does design collaborations and research.

i know i sometimes overthink Prada. but i just love her! i want miuccia to wrap me up in a blanket and sing me a lulaby!!! if you haven't seen the interview with her on cnn you must!

here, i've made it easy: