From Beijing to Paris, Miuccia Prada’s most playful line swaps catwalks for grass lawns, handing out feminist classics in color-saturated kiosks for one long weekend only.
On a late-June morning, joggers in Chaoyang Park paused when blush-pink louvers rose beside the running track. A few time zones away, a lemon-yellow pavilion popped up next to Hong Kong’s Palace Museum, while grassy clearings in Milan, Osaka and Paris sprouted their own kaleidoscope of kiosks. The installations signaled the return of Miu Miu Summer Reads, a roving literary happening that treats urban parks like open-air reading rooms.
The concept is as simple as it is chic: give the crowd a great story and an even better setting. This year’s syllabus spotlights two women who rewrote the rules of desire and duty – Simone de Beauvoir, represented by her intimate novella The Inseparable, and Fumiko Enchi, whose The Waiting Years anatomizes marriage as social theater. Both titles arrive wrapped in special Miu Miu dust jackets, stamped with an ex-libris motif unique to each city and stashed in sleek tote bags, gratis for every passerby willing to linger.
If the format rings a bell, that is because Prada’s younger sibling label has been courting bibliophiles for a while. In April, during Milan Design Week, the brand’s Literary Club drew standing-room-only crowds for readings that juggled academic rigor and deadpan wit. Summer Reads scales up that intimacy, sending the same brainy energy outdoors where anyone can drop in, book in hand, gelato possibly melting.
Timing is precise. Beijing, Hong Kong, Milan and Paris hosted the activation on June 27 and 28, while Osaka followed on June 28 and 29. Each site adopted its own hue: pistachio in Paris and powder blue in Milan, creating a breadcrumb trail of color for curious strollers. No RSVP, no dress code, just a gentle reminder that turning pages can still feel radical.
LOCATIONS & DATES
June 27th-28th
- Beijing – Chaoyang Park, No. 1 Nongzhan South Road, Chaoyang District
- Hong Kong – Competition Pavilion, Art Park, West Kowloon Cultural District (next to the Hong Kong Palace Museum)
- Milan – Giardino delle Arti, Via Palestro 8
- Paris – Bibliothèque nationale de France, 5 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris
June 28th-29th
- Osaka – Umekita Park, 6-86 Ofukacho, Kita-ku, Osaka
