Reverse Metamorphosis
Review of Prada Fall 2026 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
The dilapidated countryside home, where Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann decamped to (as an escape from their life of squalor) in the cult British film Withnail and I provided the inspiration for the backdrop of Prada’s fall 2026 show. Mismatched marble fireplaces and broken boundaries were also perhaps a metaphor, or commentary on the world at large.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
A moment of clarity, Imperfect elegance, Whats old is new again
A line said by Paul McGann’s character ‘Marwood’ in the film Withnail and I “Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day” narrated an Instagram post, adding to the piling on of metaphors used throughout the show. If speaking of the current geo-political climate, then Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons may be suggesting that amid the chaos (what seems irreparably broken) there is a glimmer of hope. As throughout the fall 2026 collection there were signs of distress – fabric peeling away, worn leathers, frayed edges left raw, creasing in abundance – wrapped up in refinement i.e. clarity.
The flat caps and shrunken silhouettes of the outerwear gave off a definitively Dickensian air. A time of gruelling labour and hard living (long hours for low pay, sound familiar?) where practical wools in melancholic tones of grey or brown trumped decadence for the working class. This ‘Reduction of the architecture of garments’ was to return focus to the ‘human form within.’ Unfortunately, it looked as if it were following the shift towards more conservative values seen across the season so far – from singular casting to the ‘traditional’ tailored aesthetic to body inclusivity. If the profession to build from what we have learned was a rallying call, as outlined in the notes, menswear as a whole needs to push for a return to the representation that was beginning to emerge over the last two to three years.
Prada’s collections have always carried meaning beyond the clothes presented on the runway. Openly questioning societal norms and rules around beauty and what constitutes good taste. Miuccia Prada’s designs have sometimes caused a level of discomfort, yet she was often proved to be ahead of her time, with her ideas regularly adopted seasons later. A similar collective discomfort at the state of the world is the chasm into which the design duo were peering into for Fall. And out of chaos they sought to provide clarity in the form of precision. To suggest a stripped-down uniformity to encourage focus and calm, clarifying this Prada said ‘This show is considered – you need attention, work, seriousness, culture, care to be expressed.’
Always relied upon to provide the direction of the season, Prada and Simons themselves contemplated how to make something new, from the familiar. For Fall their conclusion was transformation, suggestion and a reversal – if not a challenge – of the norm. The double shirt cuffs (reserved for the most formal of occasions) was effectively used as a design detail across all looks, sans the paper-thin and knitted vests. Left unbuttoned to exude a non-chalant ease, in contrast to the stricture of the clothing, and in homage to Withnail some were also lightly soiled with ‘designer dirt’ if you will. Simons explained ‘a classic shirt is transformed into something easy. Everything you see, you know. But the result you don’t.’
The ideas suggested in the notes around ‘pieces …composed with familiar elements transformed through a questioning of convention’ were developed into elongated, almost stretched, outerwear, double-duty rainwear with multi-coloured capelets in pops of colour (see also the laces on footwear), delicately embroidered vests made imperfect through pre-creasing and crumpling, and hats fixed to the back of coats and jackets as if in a state of preparedness.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
The idea that the world can be terrible, but fashion can be beautiful [we are] also talking about cultural honesty, we are working for a brand that sells expensive clothes, to possibly rich people. And so, you have to deal with beauty, and elegance to understand what is believable, and very often [be in] the ruins, because I don’t want to always be new, to be perfect. So, it’s challenging.”
“It’s so disconnected, the world, [there is an] ugliness to the world, but there is also a lot of beauty in it, so why can they not also unite and come together and be used together? And lead to something that is like a new creative impulse.”
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, Co-Creative Directors, Prada
THE WRAP UP
In their persistent quest to question convention while not appearing removed from the encroaching reality of conflict and instability (both financially and politically) todays solution was to look to what we know as a coping mechanism for the unknown. Yet, rather than resting on the complete comfort of familiarity Prada and Simons reframed what it means to value the work that goes into constructing each piece, “It’s about transforming things that you actually respect and love” the duo concluded.
