Despite the generally out-of-reach nature of celebrities and high fashion, social media, the internet, and magazines allow us to grasp this foreign world at close range in an almost parasocial way. ‘Image of an Image’, the new campaign for Prada’s SS26 collection by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, is a charming wink to the relationship between advertising, fashion and viewers.
Essentially, parasocial behavior is a way in which people create the illusion of intimacy and closeness by crossing the line between fan and celebrity. Just as celebrities turn into spectacles, isn’t it natural for us to become spectators too? Or is it our constant gaze, admiration, and attention that elevates these distant figures onto a pedestal of aspiration?
This year, Prada commissioned artist Anne Collier to execute a portfolio of images that re-contextualize the idea of fashion campaigns in the digital age. Collier’s vision transforms the SS26 campaign into something physical: a material object that can be held and felt.
Photographed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch, each still life composition is held by a pair of hands, creating the effect of an additional observer. As a result, the crux of the ad is revealed as the viewer is forced to identify with the onlooker’s hand holding the photo in admiration (and even desire) for the campaign and the model.
SS26 Prada products were worn by an ensemble of actors and personalities who participated in the campaign, including actors Hunter Schafer, Nicholas Hoult, Carey Mulligan, Levon Hawke and Damson Idris, musician John Glacier and model Liu Wen. All models are looking straight at the camera, except for Nicholas Hoult, who deliberately avoids eye contact. Ultimately, this lends itself well to the campaign model’s job in an industry built on the importance of awareness and visibility.
By creating this double effect from models looking at us, the campaign immediately sparks a discourse about the collusion of our gaze and the common practices of parasociality in the digital age. The image is a celebration and liberation from typical fashion images. It’s about considering fashion from the outside, through the lens of art and objective truth.
This article first appeared in Men’s Folio Singapore.
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