Prada's Iconic Nylon Fabric

Prada Invites is a series of collaborative projects that sees three renowned architects put a fresh spin on Prada’s iconic nylon fabric.

- Gerald Tan

In the ’80s, at a time when fashion championed extravagance and excess, the idea of a discreet backpack crafted from industrial-grade nylon seemed almost inconceivable. It was Miuccia Prada who challenged the status quo, resulting in the transformation of a dull synthetic textile commonly used in the manufacture of tents and parachutes into one of fashion’s hottest commodities. The designer’s master stroke not only changed the fortunes of the brand she inherited from her grandfather, it also signalled the fledgling luggage company’s burgeoning ambitions to become a game-changer in fashion.

In the three decades that followed, she instilled the same non-conformist lean into her works for the Italian marque. A reverential and influential figure, her radical approach subverts the traditional notions of beauty, resulting in collections that are never literal or linear in their narratives. Through it all, nylon remains an integral back story to the Prada universe—even though an assortment of materials such as lace, studs, cable knits, and paillette embroidery have been utilised by the designer on the runways as part of her paradoxical retelling of femininity.