Prada Envisions a Snowy California Landscape in Its 2021 Holiday Campaign

There is nothing more adept at ushering in the holidays than a plentiful bounty of snow. It coats everything: the ground, the trees, porch steps, and automobiles. The white exapnse reminds us of childhood dream lands. Think of Rudolph, Narnia, or Whoville. 

For its 2021 holiday campaign, Prada creates a landscape of its own in A Midwinter’s Night Dream. The brand puts snow where it never falls: the glittering city of Los Angeles. Its wanderers in this great escape are young actors Julia Garner, Shira Haas, Louis Partidge, and Taylor Russell. 

The inspiration for Prada's latest collection is cinema itself, a longstanding muse for the house. The characters in the film travel across the tundra towards a joyous holiday celebration. "Lucky we're all headed in the same direction," one of them thinks aloud. Their shiny new looks glisten in equal measure to the snow that surrounds them. 

The short film was conceived by famed director Mary Harron, the same screenwriter and director behind American Psycho. Glen Luchford, a Prada collaborator since the '90s, directed the short. To capture the actors in their frozen surroundings, the brand employed an immersive technology called The Volume, a 'curved cocoon' of LED screens originally created for use on The Mandalorian.

The collection itself is black, white, and occasionally pastel. It was seemingly designed with holiday parties in mind, as every garment toes the line between daringly festive and safe-for-work. Chiffon, sequin, and rhinestone shirts are paired with striped tights and retro bucket hats. Men are greeted with boxy tailoring and chrome accessories. The clothes are now available for purchase online.