Miuccia Prada and the Marriage of Art and Fashion

(from Financial Times) Miuccia Prada symbolises perfectly the merging of these two multimillion-pound industries. Not only are her collections feted for the kind of conceptual audacity that would shame many a so-called artist but she has also acted as a generous patron for all things cutting edge.

Miuccia Prada has already shown that fashion – quick-moving, dynamic, ferociously embracing globalisation – can outsmart more ponderous forms of expression. But the problem, which she recognises as surely as anyone, is this: as art learns those lessons and becomes more approachable and, arguably, more facile, will it lose its sense of gravitas?

Last week the 58-year-old designer announced plans for a new headquarters for her 15-year-old Prada Foundation, in a former spirits distillery in Milan. The €25m project, masterminded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, will restore most of the distillery’s original buildings as well as providing three new structures.  Read more (FT.com)