"This month, Prada moved dresses around its store to make room for a new arrival: the Prada book. Clocking in at over 700 pages, the new tome was designed by architecture firm 2×4 and retails for $125 at Prada stores and select bookshops. The book, which features a few words by enigmatic designer Miuccia Prada, makes its case via glossy photos and seductive graphic design. While that’s expected for what’s ostensibly a fashion book, the publication also flashes its architectural pedigree. Sections on past runway show spaces are illustrated with floor plans. A chapter entitled “Place” presents form development, zoning guidelines and photos of building models as well as circulation plans. It’s an intellectual approach to fashion, which is in keeping with Prada’s sensibilities. But the book also makes the case for a subtly immersive brand experience. The Prada brand is no longer limited to clothing and personal space. Branding, at least Prada’s take on it, assumes a place in the media ether, of course, but its extrapolation leads to an engagement with bigger and bigger public spheres. Where other labels might stop at a boutique, Prada has commissioned “epicenters” by Herzog & de Meuron in Tokyo and Rem Koolhaas’ OMA in Los Angeles. In Tokyo, the epicenter includes a public gathering space, while LA’s store is notable for a facade that bears no logo or name on the building. These epicenters, Rem Koolhaas writes in the book, “function as a conceptual window - a medium to broadcast future directions that positively charges the larger mass of stores.”
Just reserved my copy. See more here.
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