Dezeen Magazine

AMO installs sloping mesh catwalk for Prada fashion show

Metal mesh ramps illuminated by psychedelic coloured lights formed the set for Prada's Spring Summer 2017 menswear show in Milan, which was once again designed by Dutch studio AMO (+ slideshow).

OMA/Prada SS17 set design
Photograph by Alberto Moncada

The Italian fashion house presented the outdoor-pursuits-influenced collection as part of Milan fashion week yesterday.

OMA/Prada SS17 set design

AMO – the research branch of OMA – upheld its longstanding tradition of designing the catwalk. It was installed at the Fondazione Prada complex, the building completed by the Rotterdam-based architecture firm last year.

The studio left the remnants of its design from last season's shows, based on theatres built for public trials of heretics, around the periphery of the space.

OMA/Prada SS17 set design

In the centre, sections of metal mesh created a continuous ramp suspended between the floor and ceiling. It was used for a false ceiling, and as a covering for architectural elements like columns.

"A continuous metallic surface folds around all the elements of the set: generating an abstract layer, composed of meshes with different patterns and dimensions that overlap to recreate a total space," said AMO.

"The transparency of the cladding material unveils the underlying framework with Cartesian precision."

OMA/Prada SS17 set design

The sloped runway doglegged up through the space, all the time gradually inclined so the returning models were higher up than those just emerged. For the finale, they walked in the opposite direction – all heading downhill.

The mesh also provided stepped seating for guests, who were deliberately kept at a length from the models.

OMA/Prada SS17 set design

"The models walk in the centre at a controlled distance from the audience, virtually levitating in the space," AMO added. "They ascend onto the elongated slope of the ramp incessantly, disappearing towards the vanishing point."

Multicoloured lighting installed underneath the surfaces glowed up through the perforations, creating an aesthetic reminiscent of a nightclub – similar to the pop-up space OMA created for Prada's sister brand Miu Miu last year.

OMA/Prada SS17 set design

As with previously years, the catwalk will be altered slightly to host Prada's Spring Summer 2017 womenswear show in September.

Prada has collaborated with OMA and AMO for many years – a pairing that grew out of a friendship between founders Miuccia Prada and Rem Koolhaas.

oma-prada-mens-womens-show_agostino osio_dezeen_936_2

Most recently, AMO created a short film to present fashion house Prada's Spring Summer 2016 collection, using graphics that look like architectural renderings.

Previous catwalk designs have featured translucent sheets hung above concrete seating and a series of symmetrical linked vestibules.

Photography is by Agostino Osio, unless stated otherwise.