Architects Rem Koolhaas, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, and designers Konstantin Grcic, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have all contributed to Prada's Autumn Winter 2018 menswear collection.
The Italian label invited a range of designers to create garments and accessories for its latest collection, which was presented yesterday as part of this season's menswear fashion week in Milan.
The collaboration, named Prada Invites, called for each designer to take an "industrial" approach using black nylon – a material seen throughout the rest of the collection.
The brand describes this material as "timeless, practical yet precious, an avant-garde expression of elegance for today".
"Drawn from the universe of workwear, the military and industry, the fabric transgresses traditional signifiers of opulence, expressing a fresh breed of transgressive and subversive sophistication," it said.
For their offering, brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec created a bag inspired by folders used to carry and transport art.
"I've always liked the profiles of people – architects, painters and students – walking around with art folders; the movement of that rectangle, its clear-cut, fixed geometry contrasting with the moving bodies," said Ronan Bouroullec.
"This project takes that geometry and instils it in a shoulder bag, with its inside gusset, low fastening, elastic bands and eyelet, and use of a single colour, which produces a subtle graphical playfulness."
Rem Koolhaas, whose practice OMA has a long-standing partnership with Prada, also designed a bag – a backpack that is designed to be worn on the front.
Crediting Prada as being "single-handedly responsible for the return of the backpack", Koolhaas aimed to put a new spin on the classic typology.
His creation features compartments designated for different devices, meaning users can easily organise their belongings.
"Today, waiting in line for a typical airport check of carry-on luggage, it is surprising to note how the shapeless container of the backpack, is inhabited by strict, orthogonal devices like the laptop, the charger, books, toilet bag, and how awkward it is to liberate these objects from their containment in the backpack," he said.
"This project proposes a reinterpretation of the backpack, more suitable to the contemporary urban citizen," he continued. "The frontal position gives a more intimate sense of ownership – a better control of movement, avoiding the chain of oblivious collisions that the backpack inadvertently generates."
German designer Konstantin Grcic used the black nylon material to reinterpret the multi-pocketed vests traditionally worn by fisherman.
"My first thought was to recreate Joseph Beuys' famous fishing vest in Prada black nylon," he said. "Later, I worked on two models, which interpret the theme in a more abstract way: Apron and Hood."
Meanwhile architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron contributed a shirt printed with a pattern based on ancient language.
"Text is perceived as design, pattern, or decoration, comparable to the once potent symbols and signs, now tattooed on human bodies without number," said the duo, co-founders of architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.
"The language that we encounter here is like an archaeological find, as fascinating to us as ancient scrolls or coins because we sense that its time is running out."
As with most seasons, Koolhaas' research lab AMO created the set for the show. Named Prada Warehouse, the set was made up of stacked boxes designed to look like a factory.
Models walked around industrial shelves placed in the centre of the space, while the audience sat around the outside.
Other recent catwalk designs created for the Milanese label by AMO include a series of colourful interiors with beds and benches, and a space filled with mirrors and millennial pink detailing.