Luxury house PRADA presented its Fall Winter 2023 campaign that draws inspiration from the everlasting principles of beauty, care, and love, which are deeply rooted in the human experience. Flowers, which serve as symbols of compassion and affection, are used symbolically to depict these universal sentiments. The flowers are rebuilt at a human scale in a novel twist, implying a realm of unearthly feelings.
The Prada Fall Winter 2023 campaign stars five internationally acclaimed actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Hunter Schafer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Letitia Wright, and Li Xian, who symbolize the brand’s longstanding relationship with cinema as a forum for cultural ideas and aspirations. These cinematic idols have a series of surreal talks with the larger-than-life flowers, resulting in a literal and visual interaction. The flowers themselves are everlasting and ageless, evoking a beauty that sits somewhere between the ordinary and the spectacular. They serve as conduits for intangible emotions, crossing cultural and linguistic boundaries to become active players in the stories.
Renowned fashion photographer Willy Vanderperre, captured these extraordinary encounters as each flower, inflated beyond life-size, interacts with a different individual. The campaign films, which are backed by a narrative written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham, best known for his work on “The Hours,” have the cast engaging in thought-provoking talks with these mprobable blooms. In charge of styling was Olivier Rizzo, with creative direction from Ferdinando Verderi, and casting direction by Ashley Brokaw. Beauty is work of hair stylist Anthony Turner, and makeup artist Lynsey Alexander.
Just as the campaign’s conversations are contradictory, so are the flowers themselves. They are both fragile and strong, precious and common, transient and eternal. Each flower is distinct, reflecting the diversity of human experience. Flowers become external reflections of our thoughts and emotions as a metaphor for humanity, generating a remarkable synergy between floral imagery and the embodiment of human existence. While the images appear surreal, they elicit true emotions by capturing the core of the human experience in a realistic and emotive way.
