Prada Group History

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The Company Description of Its Time

A leading player in the luxury industry, Prada Group is an experimental workshop of ideas. Unfettered by preconceived style codes, the creations of the Group's brands - Prada, Miu Miu, Church's, Car Shoe and Marchesi 1824 - represent the answer to the exploration of society, at the same time serving as precursors and pioneers of ever-changing scenarios. That brand list is the first thing to notice, because it refuses to stay inside fashion: three clothing and footwear houses, a driving shoe specialist and a Milanese pastry institution, held together, the filing argues, not by category but by method. A perspective that places at the heart of its principles values such as uncompromised quality, valorisation of labour and freedom of creative expression is the stated glue.

Prada Since 1913 and Miu Miu Since 1993

Since 1913, Prada has been synonymous with cutting-edge style. Its intellectual universe combines concept, structure and image through codes that go beyond trends, and its fashion transcends products, translating conceptuality into a universe that has become a benchmark to those who dare to challenge conventions focusing on experimentation. Through an innovative approach drawing inspiration from an unconventional analysis of society, Prada elaborates codes that transcend trends, in style statements born from the passionate examination of disciplines at times apparently far from fashion, such as art, film and photography, resulting in creations that reinterpret reality from unusual perspectives. The founding year, 1913, is the only date the Prada sketch needs: a century-old house whose filed identity is not heritage nostalgia but continued experimentation.

Miu Miu is the most unrestrained portrayal of Miuccia Prada's creativity. Intentionally far from traditional aesthetic imagery, the brand conveys the essence of an emancipated and conscious woman, and its strength fluctuates between naif spirit and iridescent subversion, illustrating the most rebellious and seductive core of contemporary femininity. Miu Miu was born in 1993 from the independent and unconventional spirit of Miuccia Prada, an outpost for the most refined femininity and a tangible expression of the energy conveyed by women's natural contradictions and provocative personalities to contemporary society. Two labels from one designer, eighty years apart in founding, one filed as the benchmark and the other as the rebellion, is the group's clearest example of difference being managed rather than merged.

Marchesi 1824, Church's Since 1873 and the Car Shoe Loafer

Pasticceria Marchesi has embodied Milanese style since 1824. Excellent specialties, elegant spaces and impeccable service have accompanied moments of conviviality imbued with artisanal taste and sophisticated creativity, and founded by the Marchesi family, the pastry shop is a hub of excellence where to fully experience the Milanese spirit of good taste. Immune from passing fads, Pasticceria Marchesi has remained faithful to its traditions and its artisanal products; then as now, all specialties are prepared the old-fashioned way, skilfully handmade, using high quality ingredients. A pastry house inside a fashion group makes sense, on this filing's logic, because the values are identical and edible: handwork, quality without compromise, and a Milanese identity older than the fashion house itself.

Manufacturing tradition and timeless elegance represent the distinctive elements of the style journey of Church's shoes that began with its foundation in 1873. Church's challenges the most formal style rules throughout all chapters of its history, remaining true to the spirit of craftsmanship and British attitude while updating its style codes. The small rubber studs set on a deconstructed sole identify the iconic Car Shoe loafer since 1963: in 1963, Italian artisan Gianni Mostile translated his passion for race cars and handmade shoes into a deconstructed loafer featuring a sole set on tiny rubber studs, an innovation enclosing intuition and passion, and the shoe rapidly became a cult accessory chosen by members of the jet set and prestigious politicians such as John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Giovanni Agnelli. The historical record's photograph of Prada fashion is carried in the gallery on the history page, and its brand links, including Fondazione Prada, are kept in the references.

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