Prada Extends Lands in Miami for a Night of Latin-Infused Electronica
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Prada Extends, the globetrotting festival which debuted in London back in 2021 before its stop in Tokyo, landed in Miami last week for Art Basel, more prominent and hotter than ever.
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Joined by guests like Hit-Boy, who made headlines after confirming his production of Beyoncé’s hit “THIQUE,” and James Blake, who was also a performer at The Macallan’s Art Basel Event, Prada staged the event on the Faena Forum, a “nucleus of life and society” as the brand notes, bringing together fashion and music lovers for a night of art, energy, and inspiration.
This was the latest Prada Extends installation, after an inaugural event in London at The Tanks in the Tate Modern, featuring UK based HAAi, OK Williams, and Overmono, then in Tokyo at Terrada, featuring South Korean artist Lionclad, Tokyo-based machìna, and the Japanese musician and producer Yuri Urano.
In Miami this time around and at the helm of all Prada Extends events — apart from Muccia Prada herself — is the pied piper Richie “Plastikman” Hawtin.
The British-Canadian started making music when he was 17, his house waves and techno beats lighting up clubs in the Detroit circuit, and becoming one of the many pioneers of the “Minimal Techno” movement in the Nineties. Over the years, he’s successfully built a cult following as he’s guided the sound into the present, currently fusing it with the ugly-chic style that Prada has always been. “I truly believe that dance music fits in every circumstance,” he told Billboard earlier this year. “It’s just about finding the right song for that situation.”
Hawtin, who’s been friends with Prada’s co-director Raf Simons for over a decade, first collaborated with the brand back in 2020, a digital runway that debuted both Simons and Hawtin under the Prada umbrella. The music was oppositional to the bright patterns and textures but fitting in the recent dark and demure nature of the brand.
As Simons’ and Hawtin’s worlds intertwined – with Hawtin going on to produce the soundtracks for several collections after — Prada Extends was born as a branch of the growing relationship.
Here in Miami, Hawtin found duality between the ethereal worlds of Ela Minus and Slim Soledad and the Nineties Hip-Hop style of Sofía Gabanna, amplified by a visual display of laser lights and futuristic cinematics by AR designer Paola Olea, Colombian artist Juan David Figueroa, Argentina’s Adrián Lex, and the Orlando-based experience designer Ginger Leigh.
“There’s this kind of resurgence and a new generation coming in and once again, making the dance floor a place of unity again,” Hawtin tells Vogue. “A safe space for all. Music should be a force that brings happiness and a way to escape.”
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