PRADA • Pradamalia

 Prada’s top research team set out to verify this claim, so the story goes, and the result is this new species: one part biological, one part technological, all parts Prada. 

 

The seven new creatures – Disco, Socks, Fiddle, Otto, Toto, Scuba, and Spot – each exhibit supernatural powers and a few glaring quirks. Raised in isolation within the austere confines of Prada Labs, each has a triangular Prada heart and a checkerboard patterned brain. Other Prada codes featured prominently in the Pradamalia morphology include metal studs, ombre tones, polished wood, printed lips, and the iconic Saffiano leather. 

 

Individual Pradamalia can be found at Prada stores and prada.com in the forms of keychain tricks, earring sets, and necklace charms, in a range of sizes and materials. Each comes in a specialized package that offers extensive information on each individual’s unique anatomy, qualities, and behaviors, plus a note on their origins. A segmented campaign featuring animated Pradamalia in Prada Labs and, post-escape, in the world, launches November 2018. These stories will be released across multiple platforms throughout the rest of the year, just in time for the holiday season. 

 

The Pradamalia project is the result of a collaboration between 2x4 New York and Prada. The range of products – which will be available at Prada stores as well as on prada.com starting November 2018 – include tricks, jewels, and small leather goods for women and men.

 

 

Pradamalia creatures

 

The seven Pradamalia represent six unique species each with singular supernatural powers and personality quirks.

Prada’s latest venture is one of its tiniest, if measured by stature alone. Introducing Pradamalia, a mysterious new family of miniature creatures cloned from recombinant Prada DNA that has proven to be so generative for over a century.

 

DISCO

While the lavishly ornamented Disco was designed to entertain with three sets of vocal cords – each with a different range – this would-be chanteuse is somewhat lacking in social graces and can be, at times, surprisingly uncouth, even antisocial. As she escaped before being fully initiated, her repertoire is limited to a single song that she hums incessantly, slightly off-tune.  

 

 

FIDDLE

Distinguished by a handsome yellow complexion and a figurative green thumb, Fiddle is in fact part plant, with vine-like veins that run with chlorophyll. Friendly and easygoing by nature, the creature can typically be found performing its favorite trick, photosynthesis, in warm, sunlit areas.

 

 

OTTO & TOTO

Best friends Toto and Otto were designed in the image of one of the oldest Prada mascots: the monkey. As the two are actually mutations of the same genetic material they are characterized by a strong family bond and are fiercely protective of one another. They share a secret language that, to the untrained ear, sounds like high-pitched screeching.

 

 

SCUBA

A veritable fish out of water, Scuba demonstrates the limitations of aquatic form in terrestrial habitats. Although the most forward thinking of the Pradamalia, differentiated by a particularly fluid form of reasoning, Scuba is perplexed by the fact that Saffiano leather legs and zipper pull extremities are useless on dry land.

 

 

SOCKS

Socks is the most expressive and sensitive of the Pradamalia specimens. Morphing skin color communicates mood. Twin tails were engineered to facilitate dialogue, too: wag right for yes, left for no. Unfortunately, Socks never acquired the knowledge to distinguish between the two directions, leading to frequent miscommunication.

 

 

SPOT

Remarkably affectionate, Spot constantly craves attention. While originally imagined with surveillance in mind, Spot’s real defining feature is empathy. The ultra-focused eye and extra-sensory ears support supernatural sensitivity to the emotional states of others.