For Prada's Resort 2018 catwalk show, AMO filled Fondazione Prada's new exhibition space with mirrors and translucent pink columns.
The Italian fashion house's first ever Resort show was held in the Osservatorio, Fondazione Prada's new exhibition space in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II – one of the world's oldest shopping malls and the site of Prada's first shop.
The Osservatorio, opened in December 2016, is spread across the fifth and sixth floors in the Galleria's eaves, and overlooks the building's glass and steel vaulted roof and cupola.
For the Resort 2018 show, AMO – the sister firm to OMA – conceived a set design that explored the boundaries of "real and manufactured moments".
Seated on a linear arrangement of simple steel-framed benches upholstered in black and pink fabric, the audience was orientated so that they had a clear view of the Galleria's cupola.
AÂ series of mirrored and pastel-coloured translucent columns lining the windows reflected the Osservatorio's rooftop views.
"Models walk along the windows," explained AMO, "glowing in the afternoon sun, suspended between the sky and the ornate iron dome that acts as the silent backdrop for the show."
On the other side of the room, folding screens made up of mirrored and pastel-coloured translucent panels were interspersed with panels printed with magnified images of the collection, as well as black and white photography of the cupola's steel structure.
A continuous mirror that wrapped the inside wall further blurred the distinction between reality and illusion by reflecting the entire catwalk – a technique that the studio described as "blending the spectacle into the set, creating an ephemeral ensemble."
The 2018 Resort show set highlights the continued prevalence of millennial pink – a popular muted shade of the colour that sits somewhere between beige and blush.
The collaboration is the latest in a long-running partnership between Prada and OMA and AMO – a pairing that grew out of a friendship between founders Miuccia Prada and Rem Koolhaas. Other recent catwalk designs created for the Milanese label by AMO have featured a series of colourful interiors with beds and benches.
Opened in 1867 and completed in 1877, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall was home to Prada's first store, which opened in 1913 and recently underwent a refurbishment funded by Prada and Versace. The new Osservatorio hosts exhibitions with a photography focus.