“We wanted to look at the different aspects of a personality, but always within that portrait framework. We wanted to say: ‘You are who you are and what you want to be.’” Miuccia Prada

The question of identity is at the heart of La Femme Prada. Who is the Prada woman? There is no simple answer for Miuccia Prada. Somewhat contrarily, she exercises her fascination with fluid identity and difference through the idea of a singular La Femme Prada fragrance.

Eschewing the cliché of the single iconic figure as the sole representative of a fragrance world, Prada looks to a multiplicity of identities to celebrate the individuality and differences of the women who will wear La Femme Prada. At the same time, there is an acknowledgement of the strength of character and confidence of all ‘Prada women.’

La Femme Prada is designed to take the wearer on a sensory journey through place, memory and time. Utilising high-quality ingredients to make an unequivocal statement, this intoxicating fragrance combines tradition with exoticism to make a definitive and far-reaching declaration: La Femme Prada has arrived.

Miuccia Prada exercises her fascination with fluid identity and difference through the still and moving image campaign for La Femme Prada and L’Homme Prada.

Utilising the talents of a new generation of male and female actors playing a variety of enigmatic roles, a new running narrative unfurls in the fragrance world. Here, Dane DeHaan, Ansel Elgort, Mia Goth and Mia Wasikowska are revealed as the first cast to personify the world of Prada elegance in its many forms for La Femme Prada and L’Homme Prada. In subsequent years, the actors will be joined by a new cast to represent the distinct worlds of the fragrances and to continue a creative dialogue that will be ongoing.

A long-time Prada collaborator, photographer Steven Meisel brings his masterful eye to bear on the personification of various Prada characters through portraiture. An intimate style, free of extraneous elements, is utilised to get to the heart of the matter. An almost painterly approach, employing chiaroscuro through boldly contrasted lighting, echoes classical portraiture of the past by utilising the technical means of the present in still images. While in the moving images, this visual style is employed fluidly, together with an allusive and enigmatic narrative, where the focus remains resolutely on character. In turn, classic Prada looks are worn that are both timeless yet contemporary. It is a sign of how recognisable and far a Prada identity has travelled, something both distinct and individual yet instantly identifiable.

The campaign is soundtracked by Seattle-based singer-songwriter Perfume Genius’ sparse and sensual reworking of Elvis Presley’s classic 1961 ballad ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. It was Frederic Sanchez, Prada’s sound producer of choice, who imagined the cover version as a confluence between the timeless and the now. Perfume Genius – the stage moniker for solo artist Mike Hadreas – is best known for his frank, stripped-back songwriting and sonic experimentation, often addressing issues of identity and sexuality. The campaign’s specially commissioned recording gives extra weight and meaning to the fragrances’ sense of the contrasting and the complementary, as Perfume Genius creates a tension between the tenderness of the original and the enigmatic mood of the film – in doing so, offering something new and revealing. As the film’s – and soundtrack’s – climax arrives, the two iconic fragrance bottles appear in rotation, in symmetry, functioning as individual parts of a whole, a succinct visual metaphor for how Prada’s latest fragrances challenge the conventions of male and female identity