Rem Koolhaas’ design studio AMO reinterprets set design for Prada show in moving image lookbook

OMA’s collaboration with Prada has been ongoing for several years now, but their relationship was firmly cemented last summer when the Rem Koolhaas-led architecture firm completed the Fondazione Prada, the arts centre in Milan that includes a cafe celebrated as Wes Anderson’s foray into interior design. Lesser known perhaps, is that OMA’s research and design studio AMO have worked on Prada’s lookbooks since 2007, and since 2012 have replaced the seasonal publications with short films incorporating animation and graphics.

The new short graphic film for Prada is the 16th edition in the fashion house’s Real Fantasies lookbook series and reinterprets AMO’s set design for the Prada SS16 womenswear show, which explored the idea of continuous space and alternating viewpoints with various fibreglass and polycarbonate panels hung from the ceiling.

For the two-and-a-half-minute film directed by Matteo Fritelli, AMO places moving cut-outs of models in collaged or hand-drawn everyday settings, from an apartment to a highway to a commuter train. The project builds on past moving image lookbooks while highlighting the conceptual references of the new collection, and the fitting architectural and urban focus plays not only to the collection itself, but also to AMO’s strengths as an architecturally-led design studio.