Prada is no stranger to storytelling, but this season, the narrative unfolds in a new way. As part of the Spring/Summer 2025 Acts Like Prada campaign, the house tapped Ottessa Moshfegh—the writer known for her piercing, often unsettling portrayals of women—to bring its vision to the page.
The campaign, starring Carey Mulligan and shot by Steven Meisel, isn’t just a series of striking images. Each photograph serves as a spark for Moshfegh’s imagination, inspiring ten short stories that expand on the personas captured in Meisel’s lens. The result? Ten Protagonists—a collection of character studies, each named for a woman imagined by Moshfegh, each deepening the world of Prada’s latest campaign.
Bound into a limited-edition Prada book, Ten Protagonists is more than just an extension of the campaign—it’s a fusion of fashion and contemporary literature, a reminder that the Prada woman isn’t just seen, she’s read. It’s a continuation of the brand’s tradition of pushing narrative boundaries, following last season’s Miranda July hotline with another unexpected twist.
With creative direction by Ferdinando Verderi, the project layers meaning onto the visuals, giving the campaign a new dimension beyond the purely aesthetic. It’s Prada’s way of reminding us that fashion is never just about clothes—it’s about the stories we tell, and the ones we invent along the way.
