Initiated in the 1980s, the Pocono has in turn brought Prada into the contemporary era, while projecting fashion into the era of it-bags.
Prada, A House Of Perpetual Reinvention
When in 1978, Miuccia Prada inherited the house founded by her grandfather, she did not hesitate to put it on the path to modernization. Taking fashion with it to unexplored territories.
“I have always wanted to mix industrial ways of producing things with past heritage, with artisan tradition.”
The Bag That Changed Maison Prada
It was in 1984 that Miuccia Prada revolutionized the house, fashion and leather goods. The secret of this revolution is a bag. The Vela bag, more exactly. A style of backpack available initially in black and brown, which happens to be worked in a nylon specially designed and imagined by Prada. A water resistant nylon called Pocono.
Marked with a distinctive metallic Prada seal, and not with its logo. The bag clashes with the very history of the Prada house which, it must be remembered, was the leather goods manufacturer for the Italian royal family.
A luxury bag cut in nylon therefore, it took the boldness of Prada’s pretty ugly concept to impose it on the world. Because the Vela is very different from the shiny and bling bags of the time.
Nylon as a material then used for military tents, Prada had just brought fashion into the era of it-bags. And this, from a bag that redefines the very terms of luxury.
The Vela would become the best-selling bag of an era, and signaled the Prada turn for the avant-garde!
“Suddenly, nylon seemed more intriguing to me than Haute Couture fabrics. I decided to introduce him to the podium and he challenged, even changed, the traditional and conservative idea of luxury. I’m still obsessed with it,” says Miuccia Prada years later.
And it is true that on the podium, the Pocono has never gone unnoticed.
The Pocono, Iconic Prada Material
For the fall 1994 collection, Miuccia Prada took the Pocono out of the Vela bag to spread all the cachet in quite luxurious silhouettes.
It is this collection that spread the concept of ugly chic. Jackets and cardigans, dresses and skirt-tailored sets. This collection was enough to make Pocono the iconic material of Prada. An ingenious and stunning material which marvelously marries the diversion of the codes of the upper bourgeoisie.
The modern history of Prada is undoubtedly linked to that of Nylon Pocono. It was in 1980 that she had the idea of developing this material a bit less snobbish, and less off-putting than high quality leather. Durable, waterproof, practical and daring. Critics salute; the fashion world is in turmoil – and the Pocono has become essential.
Its message too – today we divert the materials and conventions of luxury. At the origin of the monochrome look, the Pocono thus accompanied minimalism, both in the cut and in the monochrome. A minimalism born in response to the maximalism of the 80s.
And we clearly notice the quirky but timeless elegance of the Pocono. For Fall/Winter 2018/19, Prada praised this key material that has established the house in the pantheon of fashion.
“I have a passion for nylon – to death. Nylon is the emblem of an industrial aspect and when we started to make it, it was completely new ”explained Miuccia Prada backstage at her men’s show in January 2019.
Clean lines, luxurious fabrics and avant-garde athleisure Prada. Prada’s story is also that of Pocono and Linea Rossa.
A material that has made Prada a highly coveted name and style.