When Frank Lloyd Wright was designing the Guggenheim Museum in the 1950s, he claimed that “form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” Wright borrowed this idea from Louis Sullivan’s axiom, “form follows function”, which has become the touchstone and point of contention for many architects since. While Sullivan proposes that aesthetics is subsidiary to utility, Wright suggests that the two actually go hand in hand. Although both Wright and Sullivan were referring to architecture, their sentiment can be applied to other cultural disciplines, namely art, literature, design and fashion. For the latter, it can be challenging to achieve a “spiritual union", as form often takes precedence. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the two visionary hands of Prada, are among the few designers who consistently consider both.

For Prada’s Men’s Spring/Summer collection, Prada and Simons showcased low-slung trousers with trompe l’oeil leather belts, forest green peacoats hemmed past the hip, V-neck buttoned cardigans in scarlet red and charcoal grey, purple and green suede sneakers, floral shirts tucked into tight-fitted jerseys, creased blazers, cotton t-shirts printed with Bernard Buffet’s paintings, and leather jackets that looked like they could belong to your mother, father, aunt or uncle. Throughout the 50+ looks, there was something nostalgic, something fresh, something cuffed, and something crumpled. Each piece was full of form and complete with the utmost function, emphasised by the abundance of zips, buttons, drawstrings and pockets. 

In the show notes, Prada explained that all the pieces were meant to be “uncontrived” and “direct”—a very architectural idea, if I might note. There was nothing to interpret, scrutinise, or probe beyond the clothes’ structure, materiality and texture. Here, there was nothing more than elegant, modern, utilitarian garments. 

This is an idea that resurfaces every Prada season. Although the house occasionally explores motifs and issues, Prada and Simons remain sincerely concerned with function and form. And that is why, at the end of the show, when the designers peeked out of the small, white-pitched house that Rem Koolhaas built, I couldn’t help but think that the designers had actually achieved a “spiritual union” between the two. This was not, of course, the first time, and it surely won’t be the last. As they move through each season, they will continue to propose a new reality where form and function are not only united but leagued, like two strips of Velcro, fastened together, close, resolute.