"Fashion is an instant language"

(Miuccia Prada)

What a nice surprise to be receiving presents after Christmas! I didn't know what to expect when the postman delivered a parcel on Monday, and was thrilled to find the Prada Book inside. I had seen mentions of it in a number of blogs, but had not yet had a chance to have a look myself.

A brand publishing a book about itself obviously has a bit of an odd by-taste to it, especially if the book retails for rather large sums of money. So when I first heard about the book I was a bit sceptic; my thoughts went along the lines of "Oh, so they'll show some of their collections and some nice imagery, and the customer is expected to pay for that? " - but I have to admit I had no idea what I was talking about.

The book comes in a lovely casing, all done up in a cover material similar to the signature Saffinao leather. It's a heavy, 700+ pages volume, hard-cover bound, and printed on nice, heavy paper. It highlights the history of the Prada brand, and gives an overview of its activities over the past three decades. And of course that's where the fun starts. Probably everyone knows by now that Prada does not only do fashion and accessories, but also runs an art foundation. However, gaining such an overview of the company's activities has been a real eye-opener. Not only do they give detailed descriptions of their architecture projects, such as the Prada Transformer (created together with Rem Koolhaas) in Seoul and the new buildings in Milan, but also share fascinating background infos on the retail store concepts, a travelling exhibition of the signature skirts designed by Miuccia Prada, and of course a very nicely done overview of the collections over the past 30-odd years.

All in all, a stunning presentation of a fascinating company that is using its size and position to explore areas far beyond its core, offering surprisingly honest and profound recognition of the world outside the ephemeral fashion realms of today.

www.prada.com