Scratches, seams, fractures, scars… in short, the traces of a life lived.

Each one carries a story within. Some traces demand to be seen. Once brought into the light, they transform into something greater. They breathe life into an object, freeing it from its mold and turning it into a symbol beyond the object itself.

The Japanese art of kintsugi carries this very philosophy. Broken pieces are joined with urushi, a natural lacquer, then dusted with gold. Instead of being hidden, the fractures are illuminated. What emerges is a whole far more valuable than before: for every repaired fragment holds the mark of labor and a new layer of meaning.

Raw edges, visible seams, and details left intentionally undone… Just as urushi reveals the gold in kintsugi, Prada’s “Raw Refinement” turns every mark into a story. The fingerprints of the hands that bring each piece together are made visible, like fragments bound again through urushi. And in this way, every piece gains a story that is entirely its own.

Like an oak etched with names and weathered by time, the Shetland wool dress stands before us as a keeper of untold tales.The seams, left visible by the tailor’s intent, mirror a fearless spirit. Unaffected by the coldness of mass production, it carries the fingerprints that shaped it with pride.

The raw leather fragments spilling from the seams of the pumps offer a gaze turned toward the traces of the past. The piece’s untouched beginning and its finished form are bound into one body. Prada’s own savage technique is the urushi of these creations: the marks of scissors and the worn leather surface ripple across the piece.

The bag rests with a grace surrendered to the flow of time. Its soft creases and burnished patina, evoke the sense of a memory still alive – a story that began years ago and has taken on flesh with a beating heart.

For years, beauty was synonymous with perfection. Human nature is drawn to binaries – we are eager to define everything through opposites aren’t we? But beauty, at times, must hold duality; it must carry life. With these pieces, Prada rewrites the perception, showing that beauty is displayed not on a spotless canvas, but in the marks a story leaves behind.

Words by Duru Ustaoğlu

All images courtesy of Prada

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