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ast autumn, Prada released a short film directed by David O Russell and starring Frieda Pinto, John Krasinksi and Sacha Baron Cohen. Called Past Forward, the film looks at memories and the way that clothing, or what we wear on any given day, informs our memory of a certain moment. Set in a futuristic environment with a 1950s feel, the film captures Miuccia Prada’s conceptual artistic approach, which has been extended beyond the catwalk to make a wider statement about how clothing shapes our existence. ‘The film feels like another manifestation of her designs,’ says fashion academic and broadcaster Oonagh O’Hagan. ‘It’s not explicit, not spelt out, but it Above (both): Prada spring/summer 2017
feels familiar; whether it’s a scene from the film or one of her silhouettes. You feel you know it, yet it is new and fresh.’ Miuccia Prada is just one of a number of fashion designers who is engaging with the past in order to shape the future. In the spring/ summer 2017 collections at Milan Fashion Week, the past was referenced in a myriad of different ways, shapes and forms, played out through the design of clothes, but also the styling and the models. At Bottega Veneta, supermodels from the 1990s Eva Herzigova and Karen Elson walked the catwalk alongside ‘70s style icon Lauren Hutton and modern-day muse Gigi Hadid.
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