As rumored, Belgian-born designer Raf Simons was confirmed today (March 23, 2020) as a co-creative director for Italy luxury label Prada. He will share the roll with Miuccia Prada, the label’s current creative lead who took over the family-owned label in 1978, a business founded by her grandfather in 1913.
The news was announced on the final day of Milan Fashion Week, during which the label showed its final runway with Miuccia Prada as the sole lead designer.
Simons will begin his role on April 2nd and will show his debut collection with the label’s spring 2021 women’s presentation, which will be shown in Milan in September 2020. The 52-year-old Simons will continue designing his eponymous label and will not be involved with Prada sister label, Miu Miu.
The label described the design collaboration with a press release reading: “This partnership, encompassing all creative facets of the Prada label, is born from a deep reciprocal respect and from an open conversation. It is a mutual decision, proposed and determined by both parties. It opens a new dialogue, between designers widely acknowledged as two of the most important and influential of today. Conceptually, it is also a new approach to the very definition of creative direction for a fashion brand, a strong challenge to the idea of singularity of creative authorship, whilst also a bold reinforcement of the importance and power of creativity in a shifting cultural landscape.”
Miuccia Prada first became acquainted with Simons when he was appointed in 2005 as the creative director of Jil Sander, which was then owned by Prada. Simons left the label in 2012, but maintained a friendly relationship with Prada. Simons said he’d been discussing the possibility of a co-creative role with Miuccia Prada for over a year.
