Leave It to Prada to Make Climbing Classy
Simplicity. Remember her? Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons sure do. Fashion’s preeminent design dream team presented the appropriately titled Spring/Summer 2027 menswear collection, “Clarity,” in Milan on Sunday, turning out one of its strongest showings in seasons. This was thanks, in part, to an almost surgical paring back of excess, but really, it was a favorite because of all those genius, bouldering-adjacent accessories.
An update on the Prada monk strap shoe often doubled (and even tripled) the strappage and elongated the toe, turning the dressy silhouette into something fit for getting a foothold on the rock wall, while climbing chalk bags got the Prada nylon treatment.
The pouch, usually used to stow chalk to keep your palms dry, has been transformed into a clip-on belt bag, reimagined in leather and nylon, available in classic black and brown, as well as bright primary shades of red, blue, and yellow. Attaching with a carabiner, the bags were very vintage Prada Sport, but also tapped into both the trinketmaxxing and functional bagmaxxing focus gripping fashion right now. What’s better than one of Prada’s great bags? A mini version, fit for any belt loop.
Built around resilience as an “antidote to complication,” according to the show notes, the collection overall was slimmer and slicker than ever. While mileage will vary on how effective the “Skinny Silhouette Is Back” agenda lands — Prada’s latest jean jackets and T-shirts were shrunken down for the Ozempic era, while pants and jeans came as slim as vintage Raf (or Hedi Slimane, depending on your perspective) — the climbing-inspired accessories feel most fitting for the high-fashionification of performance wear.
What was once the domain of GORPy brands like Salomon and Arc'teryx has spilled over, with luxury labels like Loro Piana releasing wool climbing pants (to complement its lowkey hiking gear) and everyone from Zara to Louis Vuitton releasing tough trail-ready pants.
Prada’s subtle push into the wildly popular, multibillion-dollar climbing market feels very on-brand, given its track record of introducing technical gear, like water-resistant nylon, into its collections and running a sports sub-label years before any other major luxury brand catches up. Who else besides Prada could manage to keep a firm grip on both NASA space suit construction and earthbound climbing gear without slipping?
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