Graphic novels inspire Prada’s spring 2018 menswear show

Guests at Prada’s spring 2018 menswear show this weekend stepped into a giant comic book in Milan.

Miuccia Prada enlisted artists James Jean from Los Angeles and Ollie Schrauwen of Belgium to transform the entire showspace, with the help of designers at 2×4 and AMO. They surrounded show-goers with cartoons of over-sized monkeys, insects and women’s eyes with long black lashes.

Jean and Schrauwen’s comic strips also found their way onto shirts in a collection that created a connection between the real and virtual world. Prada explained backstage that she was drawn to comics because they told bite-size stories – similar to social media today.

‘I think we live in this double world,’ she said. ‘And there are all these opposites. That is what’s interesting, the dialogue — or no dialogue — between the two worlds.’

Prada celebrated human talents in the digital era with a ‘simple, real’ show, as she put it. Even the ceiling and sunken seating of the venue were covered in Roy Lichtenstein-esque scenes.

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