Prada SS26 and the search for silence in the age of noise

In the accelerated pace of contemporary fashion—where visual excess, conceptual overstimulation, and immediacy of information seem to have become dogmas—Prada’s SS6 show represented an unusual gesture: a deliberate renunciation of noise, a commitment to restraint, to pause, to a certain form of introspection. Far from the deafening noise of imposed narratives, Prada presented a collection that, rather than announcing, insinuated; rather than defining, suggested.

Under the title “A Change of Tone,” Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons articulated a proposal that departs from the usual rhetoric of the fashion show. The show, held at the Fondazione Prada Depot, was stripped of artifice: an industrial space left practically pure, bathed in natural light thanks to deliberately uncovered windows, and barely touched by shaggy, flower-shaped rugs. For the first time, the space was not transformed.

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Silence, calm, balance

Raf Simons made it clear backstage: the key to this collection is calm. A word that, in the context of luxury and runway fashion, sounds almost provocative. However, far from meaning complacency or neutrality, the calm Prada invokes is a form of aesthetic resistance: in the face of the speed of consumption, in the face of the saturation of symbols and meanings, a fashion that observes, breathes, and slows down.

The collection displayed a refined play of contradictions and contrasts. Prada, a staunch defender of shorts as a central element of the modern menswear wardrobe, this time took her minimalism to a deliberate extreme: tiny, body-hugging shorts, often hidden under leather jackets or lightweight trench coats. This economy of fabric on the legs was matched by an unusual generosity in the safari-inspired shirts, which fell to mid-calf and altered the visual balance.

There were also layerings that challenged the functional logic of summer: sportswear with classic suits, robust outerwear paired with barely-there underwear. Everything seemed to indicate that this collection wasn’t intended to dress the body for a climate, but for a state of mind: the suspension of narrative linearity, the freedom of impulse, the possibility of a gesture without justification.

The hat as a metaphor

One of the most talked-about elements was the conical hat, often accompanied by strands that descended over the face, partially obscuring the wearer’s identity. Beyond their formal eccentricity, these headdresses functioned as emblems of an attitude: concealment not as a denial, but as an affirmation. In a world that imposes permanent visibility, Prada proposes the right to disappear, to protect the face, to preserve mystery.

It’s no coincidence that the show notes spoke of a “dismantling of meaning and power.” Prada seems to have understood that the act of not explaining, of not reducing clothing to a univocal discourse, can be a profoundly political act. The Italian house chooses ambiguity as its method and silence as its ethic. Among the attendees were names like Riz Ahmed, Harris Dickinson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stormzy, Kai, Sana, Lee Dohyun, and Anthony Edwards.

epilogue: toward a fashion without shouting

Prada SS26 is not a break with the past, but a subtle inflection, a shift in tone—as the title suggests—that questions dominant codes without directly confronting them. It is a fashion that dares to speak softly, even when the world expects shouting. A fashion that does not abandon sophistication, but puts it at the service of introspection. A fashion that does not seek to impose, but to suggest. In this deeply aesthetic and decidedly philosophical gesture, Prada reminds us of something essential: that true elegance lies, perhaps, in knowing when to be silent.

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