Zhijun Wang cooperated with a Taiwan based stylist named Kuohao Chung in Oct 2020. As Raf Simons announced that he will become co-creative director of Prada, they both want to find a way to memorize the moment, not only a mask showing case but also a perfect model combination between street culture and luxury house.
Zhijun created a new idea for the Prada x Raf Simons capsule collection which includes: mask, neck armor, cape, waistband, and arm armors, with inspiration of gladiator and oriental culture. He chose two pairs of Raf Simons 20FW ANTERI trainers to make the main mask and a Prada archive nylon backpack as project material which was provided by Kuohao.
The main mask is composed by black & white (Yin-Yang) materials. You can see ‘Raf’ and ’Simons’ on both valves when the mask cover is removed. The removable neck armor is connected with the mask via velcro tape, sealed with a Prada triangle logo. So that’s why we called it 'ZEN', always looking for balance.
Zhijun used almost all the structure of the backpack to handcrafted them, to keep the sporty minimalist look and also added some functional details. He kept the steel metal hardware to transform into a waistband. The drawstring closure and nylon fabric on both sides of the backpack are used to make the gloves with elements of orient.
We finished it in December 2020, however due to the epidemic, the shooting was delayed for two months. For image making, we added product serial number and information to emphasize their “archive identity”, that’s why we choose archive instead of the latest collection. Moreover, we layout this editorial as a product manual to re-transferring the re-making process.
Capsule Design: Zhijun Wang
Concept: Yutong Duan (Aria)
Creative Direction: Kuohao Chung (Azure)
Photography: Chang Chieh
Set Design: Saem Xu
Set: Giovenny Lee
Makeup: ChingChing Makeup
Hair: Miley Shen
Model: Alice Gaultier & Maaha Phophanah