73,000 ready-to-wear pieces, 63,000 pairs of shoes, 53,000 bags and accessories, 27,000 fabric samples. The company’s archives are not only about preserving invaluable historical heritage, but also creating a source of inspiration and future research.
The Italian company Prada Group owns five brands: Prada, Miu Miu, Church’s, Car Shoe and the pasticceria Marchesi 1824. The company’s archives are located at the headquarters in Tuscany which is also the location of the production department and warehouses, with the main office in Milan.
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The Historical Clothing Archive is divided into collections and catwalk archives. It includes 73,000 ready-to-wear pieces and 13,500 research items. The archives of the collections contain the most iconic items. They are divided into categories, brands and seasons. In the catwalk archives there are Prada and Miu Miu women’s and men’s collections starting with 1990.
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The Historical Footwear Archive is located at Prada Valvigna in Tuscany. It houses more than 63,000 models of Prada, Miu Miu, Car Shoe and Church’s shoes. Some of them were released in 1986.
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The leather goods archive includes 53,000 items, including bags, travel items and a wide range of accessories such as hats, belts, gloves, wallets, umbrellas, scarves and jewelry.
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The unique pieces created for such movies as Australia and The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, and The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, are also a part of the archive.
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All products are carefully stored and periodically checked to ensure their preservation over time. Special boxes are provided for the dresses made of precious fabrics with beautiful decor.
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Fabric Archive
The Fabric Archive is located in Levanella and Milan. The archive in Levanella has collected more than 27,000 original fabrics in different color variations from all Prada and Miu Miu ready-to-wear collections. The fabric design bureau in Milan houses thousands of the research fabric samples.
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The fabrics are archived in 1.5 m long strips and organized into a catalog with complete technical information.
Library
The Prada Group library was originally founded in Tuscany. Later, in 2001, it was moved to Milan to become a source of research and inspiration for the company.
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The library contains more than 43,000 tomes, some of which date back to 1894. It includes DVDs, catalogs and magazines, separated by themes: fashion, traditions, art, photography, architecture, design, jewelry, fabrics.
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In addition, the library contains all the corporate lookbooks for Prada and Miu Miu collections, from the earliest exhibitions to the present day.
Design Archive
More than 6,000 sq.m. in Arezzo, Tuscan are dedicated to the unique Prada Group’s Design Archive to the samples, models, and historical furniture. In total, it has about 10,000 units.
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Here are presented the large-scale store concepts at 1: 1 and the samples of the research materials used in their development, as well as special showcases that allow you to study every aspect of the project before its implementation in detail.
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The Historic Furniture Archive includes unique exquisite furniture and furnishing accessories, which are the valuable source of inspiration for all design events.
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Here’s an interesting fact: in 1983, expanding its network of stores, Prada paid special attention to the new aesthetic design, which is dominated by a special shade of light green, soon to be known as Prada Green. The first Prada Green store was opened in Milan on the Via della Spiga.
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More at www.pradagroup.com