Billboard Women in Music 2025
MILAN — On the heels of the recently successful event in Abu Dhabi, Prada Mode is already embarking on its next destination: Japan.
The 12th iteration of the architectural and cultural activation will take place between June 4 and 15 in Osaka and Inujima, the latter an island located in the Japanese Seto Inland Sea near Naoshima and once an industrial hub converted into a cultural hot spot since 2008.
The longer, two-location event is the result of a partnership with Kazuyo Sejima, the cofounder of architecture and design firm SANAA and a frequent Prada collaborator, having tied up with the Italian luxury brand in 2023 for Prada Mode in Tokyo and the “Paraventi: Folding Screens From the 17th to 21st Centuries” exhibit at Fondazione Prada. Before that, she was among the creatives tasked in 2019 to design a Prada bag as part of the “Invites” project.
Sejima has had a crucial role in spearheading the renaissance of Inujima, tasked by the Fukutake Foundation, which manages the Benesse Art Site in Naoshima to reimagine and reshape the island. Prada Mode will pay homage to her work, mounting a dedicated exhibition filled with scale models, videos and other materials at the SANAA-designed pavilion located in Umekita Park in Osaka to spotlight her transformational projects as part of its Prada Mode’s cultural programming.
Furthering the event’s link with the architect and scholar Sejima, Prada Mode is to be preceded by Inujima Project, a multiday preview tour of the island filled with guided visits, as well as musical and artistic events curated by the designer and taking place at historic buildings and spaces. These include a first look at the permanent pavilion at Inujima Life Garden, designed by Sejima and donated to the island by Prada.
“On Inujima, a tiny island rich in nature, visitors will encounter and experience Symbiosis, a landscape that combines history, architecture, art and daily life. In Osaka, a city with historical ties to Inujima, this experience will be shared and expanded to reach a wider audience,” said Sejima. “At this edition of Prada Mode, Symbiosis will take shape through conversations and discoveries, creating a new landscape that continues to grow with the participation of all,” she added.
After Inujima Project wraps up on June 6, Prada Mode Osaka follows stretching until June 15.
Nylon Prada pieces created by architect Kazuyo Sejima, as well as Cini Boeri, Elizabeth Diller as part of the “Prada Invites” project for spring 2019 displayed at the brand’s store inside Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
Courtesy Photo.
Earlier this year, Prada Mode traveled to Abu Dhabi, as reported, taking place on Feb. 11 and 12 at the MiZa district in the United Arab Emirates’ city’s Mina Zayed neighborhood. It was developed in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Theaster Gates, with whom the Italian luxury brands had already collaborated twice on earlier versions of the event.
Last year, Prada Mode touched down in Los Angeles, presenting the third edition of The Double Club, a project by Carsten Höller, in collaboration with Luna Luna at the Luna Luna Studio.
In 2023 Prada Mode took place in association with the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Teien Art Museum, one of Japan’s main institutions. It was hosted and curated by Sejima.
The inaugural Prada Mode was staged during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2018. The following year the format touched down at Art Basel Hong Kong and Frieze London, while in 2020 Prada brought the members’ club to Paris and to Shanghai, where the brand invited producer, director and writer Jia Zhangke to transform the Prada Rong Zhai villa with a site-specific installation called “Miàn” based on his cinematic work.
In 2021, the COVID-19-disrupted edition in Moscow was held in December, while in February 2022 the format touched down in Los Angeles during Frieze featuring a collaboration with artist Martine Syms.
In November 2022, Prada Mode headed to Dubai with a reprise of Damien Hirst’s “Pharmacy” installation at the ICD Brookfield Place, a skyscraper designed by Foster + Partners in the heart of the city’s International Financial Centre.
Past iterations featured works and installations by several artists, directors and photographers, such as Jamie Diamond, Kate Crawford, Trevor Paglen, Lee Sook-Kyung, Kim Jee-Woon, Yeon Sang-ho and Jeong Dahee, in addition to Gates, Zhangke, Hirst and Syms, among others.
