THE WORD EXCAVATE is used a lot when it comes to describing the approach that Prada takes to their clothing. I’ve used it myself, numerous times. They excavate the ideas, purpose and forms of clothing and how it is applied. Does that make co-creators Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons archeologists? Given that this field is the literal study of human history and its artefacts, yes. That is exactly what they are.

This act of excavation and the thinking of an archaeologist were at the forefront of the pair’s approach to their autumn/winter 2026 collection in Milan.

Staged inside the Deposito at Fondazione Prada, the show unfolded within a space that felt deliberately unsettled. Architectural fragments hovered mid-air, as if the interior of a grand building had been peeled back and suspended for inspection. It set the tone for a collection that appeared similarly unearthed. Clothes looked recovered rather than produced, shaped by time, pressure and previous lives rather than pristine manufacture.

Close inspection of the garments themselves reinforced this reading. Overcoats arrived narrow and soft-shouldered, their surfaces marked by creases and compressions that suggested storage, folding, even neglect. Leather jackets appeared gently battered, their patina uneven and restless. Trench coats and car coats were layered with cropped technical overlays that exposed outlines beneath, traces of what once was or what still lingered. Shirts bore elongated cuffs that slipped beyond sleeves, undone and unconcerned with the usual Prada neatness. Elsewhere, stains, shadows and distortions hinted at wear, accident and use.

Simons has form with deconstruction, having used it in his own brand years ago but back then it felt more like anti-establishment shock value. Today, as the world seems to sit on the cusp of a revolution (in whose favour, we are yet to see) the signs of age and handling felt more like scars. The marks of everyday life. The effect was of fashion that had lived already, objects carrying memory rather than promise alone.

It’s a controversial move. Historically, the most privileged classes often embraced clothing marked by wear. A scuffed shoe or faded coat was proof of provenance or legacy and a genuine relationship that the wearer had with their clothes – nothing was worth so little that it could be thrown away. They bore stories that were to be honoured. It signalled that these garments were made well enough to endure, passed down, repaired and respected. Wear and tear became a quiet badge of honour, an index of heritage and craft rather than disposability and the plastic-wrapped, pristine nature of today’s fast fashion crisis.

Seen through that lens, Prada’s Winter 2026 collection feels acutely contemporary. As class structures are questioned and luxury is scrutinised for its excesses, the notion of perfection begins to feel hollow. What replaces it is a sense of longevity.