Prada Marfa, the undisputed most interesting Prada store in the world, has a uncertain future thanks to anti-advertising legislature passed four decades ago by Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson. The law, the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, prohibits advertising on certain stretches of Texas highways, including U.S. 90, the highway Prada Marfa has been installed beside for about eight years by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.
Local authorities have ruled that the installation is actually a Prada ad, and not a piece of art using the Prada logo. The New York Times points out that the store has Prada's blessing, and its inventory of modified Prada bags and shoes were chosen and donated by the company. The installation however, doesn't receive any financial support from the fashion brand, and was instead funded by two nonprofits, the Art Production Fund in New York and the local Ballroom Marfa.
Apparently, Prada Marfa's legal problems started earlier this summer when Playboy Magazine paid for an advertisement featuring a neon version of their bunny logo a few miles away, clearing violating the same Highway Beautification Act.
The collaborative short film Prada commissioned from Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola to advertise their new Candy fragrance clocks in at just about three and a half minutes, but has all the familiar details of Anderson's longer features.
The three episodes, starring Léa Seydoux, chronicle the romantic exploits of two best friends dating the same woman simultaneously with the understated dialog and raucous soundtrack (this time provided by supercool French rocker Jacques Dutronc) that works so well in the duo's earlier collaborations.
Prada’s latest installment in its "Real Fantasies" video series showcases the lux Italian fashion house’s SS13 collection—classic restraint paired with Japanese ambiance—in all of its abstract, sophisticated glory. The whimsical art film, directed by AMO, toys with hand-drawn collages, brushstrokes, and models cut and pasted onto cinematic landscapes. Dapper dudes and willowy women dressed in the collection snap photos of one another and chat on the phone. It’s beautifully bizarre—the perfect juxtaposition of quirk and cool that Prada achieves with every collection.