Prada x Simons

There is a lot of excitement and buzz surrounding the news that Raf Simons will join Italian luxury brand Prada as an equal co-creator with Miuccia Prada. The talented Belgian designer has moved from one creative director position to another over the past several years, including Jil Sander, Dior and most recently Calvin Klein. The big question on the tip of everyone’s tongue…will it work?

Tom Ford’s turn as the Creative Director at Gucci for ten years from 1994 to 2004, is largely credited with the introduction of the fashion designer as uber creative director. This role was now responsible for more than just designing six collections a year, but for creating marketing campaigns, store designs, and on top of that curating their own image and fame. This complete control worked so well for Gucci, that other brands followed suit. While there have been some examples of success employing this autocratic model, the end result was mostly designer burnout. It was proving an impossible task to do everything…something that Simons understands all too well.

So…the announcement this week is especially interesting because the creative duties will be shared. And perhaps these two singular artists will be afforded the real luxury of more time to create ideas, share ideas, and find new inspiration in a fashion system that is ever more demanding and mass driven. Time will tell.