Raf Simons is joining Prada as creative director. Simons has been creative director roles at Dior and Calvin Klein. He will work alongside Miuccia Prada with equal responsibilities for creative input and decision-making. The first collection designed by the creative powerhouse duo will be for the spring/summer 2021 women’s wear show. This partnership, encompassing all creative facets of the Prada label, is expected to open a new dialogue, between designers widely acknowledged as two of the most important and influential 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, while also a bold reinforcement of the importance and power of creativity in a shifting cultural landscape. It is also seen as the first step towards broader scopes of interaction — an initiation of free exchange and collaboration, a questioning of creative conventions.

Prada, founded in 1913, is an Italian luxury fashion house specializing in leather goods such as handbags, shoes, and small fashion accessories which include wallets, pouches and belts, with a range of ready-to-wear items like shirts, jackets and knits. With this move Prada hopes to bring together each designer’s individual history of reinvention, provocation, brave exploration and the power of ideas.