Why Prada’s Model Casting Matters
September 24, 2015 12:15 pm
by Janelle Okwodu
While many shows have remarkable casts, for models both new and established, Prada remains the ultimate “get.” The prestige and visibility that come from being on the Prada runway is incomparable—whether you’re a newcomer having your first big moment or a star returning after a lengthy hiatus. As a result, Prada’s castings have become the barometer by which other shows are judged, as well as an arbiter of industry beauty norms. If you want to get a feel for the current modeling look du jour, a glance at Prada’s run of show is all that’s needed. With the latest Prada extravaganza only moments away, take a look back at the faces who have made Prada the show to beat when it comes to casting.
The Comebacks
Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but Prada has a way of reintroducing its favored faces at the precise right moment. In the late ’90s, Kristen McMenamy retired from the modeling scene to focus her energies on motherhood, but for the brand’s Spring 2005 show, McMenamy re-emerged, opening and closing the show and picking up right where she left off in her career. Gemma Ward’s Spring 2015 return to the Prada catwalk was similarly epic. Ward, who’d sworn off modeling and had been quietly living in Australia since 2009, began her career as a Prada exclusive and rose to superstar status before taking her six-year break.
The Actors
While models make up the majority of Prada’s runway, the brand’s menswear advertising has long relied on art house actors, enlisting everyone from conventional cuties Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ben Whishaw to acting luminaries like Gary Oldman, Harvey Keitel, and Christoph Waltz. At the fittingly theatrical Fall 2012 show, worlds collided when Oldman, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, and Jamie Bell unexpectedly took to the runway alongside male models like Arthur Gosse and Victor Nylander.
The Boundary Breakers
Milan has always lagged behind New York, London, and Paris in terms of diverse casting, but in recent years Prada has strived toward casts that represent the full spectrum of beauty. In Fall 2006, Korean model Hye Park became Prada’s very first Asian model, followed by Chinese stunners Liu Wen and Shu Pei Qin in Spring 2010. At the Fall 2008 show, Jourdan Dunn became the first black model to walk for the brand since Naomi Campbell more than a decade earlier.
The Supermodels
Though Miuccia Prada, previous casting director Russell Marsh, and current casting director Ashley Brokaw tend to seek out unusual faces for Prada’s shows each season, neither can resist a supermodel moment, especially when it involves taking the star into fresh territory. Adriana Lima ditched her tan and highlights to become a goth siren for the Fall 2013 show, while Alessandra Ambrosio, Miranda Kerr, and Doutzen Kroes left their Angel wings at the door to sport bouffants and tweed for Fall 2010’s retro-styled collection. Even Gisele Bündchen got in on the action, appearing on Miuccia’s catwalk multiple times in the early ’00s, often unrecognizable without the trademarks of her beach babe persona.
The Exclusives
Prada consistently launches careers, and though not every model selected for a Prada exclusive contract goes on to greatness, the brand’s success rate is enviable. Those chosen to open the show, walk in it exclusively, or debut via a Prada campaign are essentially winners of modeling’s golden ticket, and many now-famous names got their first break via Prada. Miuccia Prada gave a contract to a leggy Czech named Karolina Kurkova before she turned 16, and enlisted her to walk Prada and its sister brand, Miu Miu. In 2005, Prada opened with Sasha Pivovarova, a then-unknown Russian art student with a memorable glower who would go on to represent the brand for six consecutive seasons. Long before she was omnipresent in ads for Céline, Daria Werbowy was opening Prada’s Spring 2004 show and landing a contract. Models like Suvi Koponen (opened Spring 2007), Katlin Aas (opened Fall 2009), Lindsey Wixson (opened Spring 2010), Arizona Muse (opened Spring 2011), Vanessa Axente (opened Fall 2012), Maartje Verhoef (opened Spring 2013), and Amanda Murphy (opened Fall 2013 and Spring 2014) all came into their own with appearances at Prada. Even this season’s key catwalkers, like Lineisy Montero and Willow Hand, began with—you guessed it—Prada.
