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LouiePrada: progenitor of postmodern pastiche
June 14th 2007 00:44
In my habitual internet trawlings I came across quite a feat on the Prada website. Admittedly I didn’t much like this season’s collection but the means by which it is represented is a true cultural document. Prada demonstrates wit, self-reflexivity and pastiche in a way that many other ‘postmodernists’ should envy. As a European luxury brand, descended from a grand tradition to a commercial reality, Prada is a modern day icon but the self-representation offers an entirely new perspective on the brand.
By having an Asian man paint the blond girl in the Prada advertisement from a Prada advertisement in this picture, something which normally appears in magazines suddenly becomes a culturally fraught image. It actually made me giggle.
Here's another postmodern ideological dalliance. He has been transposed onto a photo of some people in Africa to look plausible but not too plausibly present. His ensemble would surely cost more than many of the photo’s inhabitants would make in a year, he’s the only white person and while some of the subjects of the photo seem to recognise they are being watched, the model demonstrates the most self-conscious visage of them all. In some ways this photo is politically incorrect, using poor black people to dramatise the wealth and luxury of a skinny white model. But this image obviously was created with that tension in mind thereby alleviating some of the unrest in the viewer.
Also on the site were pictures of women and men, head to toe covered in Prada, whose skin has been transformed into one alien shade or another. Having little experience in graphic design, I’m not sure how long this conversion would have taken but I’m fascinated at the effort. By making the humans seem extra-terrestrial a sort of mystique is conferred on their clothes. What should seem blatant and silly has a stronger more uncanny (in the Freudian sense) affective quality.
And in contrast, the humans are removed altogether in some instances leaving the clothes which look like they're made for paper dolls, minus the tabs. The simple removal of any human skin or feature leaves an eerie presence of woman, almost a ghostlike tone.
Of course there are still the luxury shots of shoes and bags to contrast and the occasional near-normal image rendered entirely strange by its visual companions.
I recommend downloading the catalogue PDF from the website, it’s really a fascinating watch.
From Prada.com
By having an Asian man paint the blond girl in the Prada advertisement from a Prada advertisement in this picture, something which normally appears in magazines suddenly becomes a culturally fraught image. It actually made me giggle.
From Prada.com
Here's another postmodern ideological dalliance. He has been transposed onto a photo of some people in Africa to look plausible but not too plausibly present. His ensemble would surely cost more than many of the photo’s inhabitants would make in a year, he’s the only white person and while some of the subjects of the photo seem to recognise they are being watched, the model demonstrates the most self-conscious visage of them all. In some ways this photo is politically incorrect, using poor black people to dramatise the wealth and luxury of a skinny white model. But this image obviously was created with that tension in mind thereby alleviating some of the unrest in the viewer.
From Prada.com
Also on the site were pictures of women and men, head to toe covered in Prada, whose skin has been transformed into one alien shade or another. Having little experience in graphic design, I’m not sure how long this conversion would have taken but I’m fascinated at the effort. By making the humans seem extra-terrestrial a sort of mystique is conferred on their clothes. What should seem blatant and silly has a stronger more uncanny (in the Freudian sense) affective quality.
From Prada.com
And in contrast, the humans are removed altogether in some instances leaving the clothes which look like they're made for paper dolls, minus the tabs. The simple removal of any human skin or feature leaves an eerie presence of woman, almost a ghostlike tone.
From Prada.com
Of course there are still the luxury shots of shoes and bags to contrast and the occasional near-normal image rendered entirely strange by its visual companions.
From Prada.com
I recommend downloading the catalogue PDF from the website, it’s really a fascinating watch.
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