Fashion collaborations are a great way to mesh two seemingly different worlds together and present them visually and materially. Prada recently accomplished this through a collaboration with space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, the contractor tasked with designing the suits for extravehicular activities during NASA’s planned 2026 Artemis III mission to the Moon. Before this, the last time humans set foot on the lunar surface was during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972 — more than 50 years ago.
Axiom Space teamed up with Prada to design the right spacesuit for this occasion. Prada’s executive director, Lorenzo Bertelli, spoke about the collaboration as an example of the luxury fashion house’s commitment to exceeding its limits. Through the team-up, Prada shared its expertise in high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, ensuring that the functional spacesuit could withstand extreme temperatures in space. The spacesuit, dubbed the AxEMU, has been run through several pressurised tests from NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space and is near the end of its development process. The next step of the process includes underwater testing.
Design-wise, the team-up chose a gleaming white spacesuit colourway, a homage to the suits worn during the Apollo era and a hue chosen for its ability to reflect heat. Prada’s work with Axiom Space is only one of the various collaborations and partnerships the luxury fashion brand has entered to push the limits of fashion and design.
More Prada partnerships
Another notable Prada partnership is with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whom the brand chose as an ambassador for Linea Rossa in 2021. To promote the brand new Luna Rossa Ocean fragrance, the brand released a documentary titled Beyond the Line, in which the actor experienced a sea crossing with the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team. In the teasers, Gyllenhaal wears technical clothing and other accessories from the Italian brand.
In July this year, Gyllenhaal also starred in a campaign presenting a new Prada eyewear collection under the Prada Linea Rossa line. The latest collection blends a contemporary aesthetic with technological enhancements, including a new aerodynamic wraparound style inspired by the new AC75 Luna Rossa boat. Meanwhile, more lifestyle models from the collection feature classic and geometric eyewear silhouettes.
Fans and enthusiasts of the luxury fashion brand can continue to expect new Prada sunglasses to feature in the fashion house’s collection. Models like the PR A08S sunglasses play with the oversized lens silhouette and thick, chunky frames, while the PR 26ZS boasts a playful, transparent pink acetate design with light brown lenses for a softer look. This design sensibility nods to Prada’s classic style with an avant-garde twist.
Prada and the future
Aside from its accessories collection, Prada’s clothing has long pivoted towards challenging conventional silhouettes. In a previous post, we highlighted some Prada menswear looks from the brand’s Fall/Winter 22 collection, where the fashion house plays with workwear silhouettes by introducing modernised touches. The collection featured fashionable and functional menswear like trench coats, bomber jackets, and blazers, with Prada adding a sharp cinched waist look to the otherwise classic bomber jacket look.
Aside from the brand’s work with Axiom Space and Hollywood superstars like Gyllenhaal, Prada also recently collaborated with Gen Z artist Cassius Atticus Hirst. Introducing Prada’s new sneaker collab, Cass was tasked to come up with a new collection of painted shoes. This was a concept inspired by a workshop Virgil Abloh did with Nike, where participants could paint and customise their Air-Force 1s. Cass painted 80+ pairs of sneakers to reach his four final designs, featuring 22 colours, which shows off the artist’s youthful take on colour, gradients, and textural embellishments.
Whether functional spacesuits for moon trips or spraypainted sneakers in a young artist’s studio, it’s clear that Prada remains committed to pushing the boundaries of fashion and design while still respecting the functionalities and fundamentals of conventional clothing and accessories, whether for an astronaut, a boating team, or a Hollywood actor.
