In news we might not have expected (but which makes for a refreshing break from Kylie Jenner’s latest frock) Prada announced last week they would be collaborating on NASA’s lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III mission, planned for 2025.
It is the first joint effort between an Italian luxury fashion house and a commercial space company, Axiom Space, and the product will be worn by the first woman to reach the moon. Historical! Chic! It figures, then, to team up with a fashion house led by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons; the former being industry’s foremost designer making clothes for women, by women. And really, who wouldn’t want a smart little logo-splashed spacesuit to shimmy across a celestial body?
Of course, this luxury association will not hurt Axiom on the va-va-voom frontier when they come to flogging more $55 million tickets to the 0.1 per cent to join their commercial space trips, estimated to begin the same year, either.
“Traditional spacesuit design has been very practical with little consideration for aesthetics. Prada brings a unique design perspective, emphasising aesthetics and how the suit looks and connects with the audience,” an Axiom spokesperson tells The Standard, before promising the new designs will be “aesthetically pleasing.” Imaginations needn’t run too wild, however. “The outer layer for the Moon must be white to help reflect the heat from the sun. The primary objective of the suit design is safety and survival of the astronauts,” they said.
Considering the fashion industry‘s previous interactions with all things outside of the ozone layer, the partnership is confidence bolstering when it comes to earthbound clothes, too.
The past 60 years of space style have been defined by designers plucking references and weaving them onto the catwalk — not vice versa. The white hot, futuristic aesthetic it is synonymous with was established in the 1960s by the three musketeers of Space Age fashion — Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne and André Courrèges — and it has not evolved a great deal since: think tin foil wraps, all-in-one white boiler suits, and a few plastic or metal accessories sprinkled for good measure.
Once this look was revolutionary, but today it more likely feels staid and repetitive with only a handful of notable exceptions: Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel autumn winter 17 collection, which saw a life-size, branded rocket built in the centre of the Grand Palais, was spectacular, while the late Virgil Abloh chose to close his history-making debut Louis Vuitton show, spring summer 19, with a metallic, astronaut’s poncho.
Agatha Medioni, an emerging fashion designer whose collections since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2021 have been concerned with space exploration and artificial intelligence, is one of those hoping the coupling of industries marks one giant leap for fashion design.
“So far I’ve worked either in fashion studios (Courrèges, Paco Rabanne and Coperni) or on space projects (designing smart gloves for European Space Agency, working in smart textile laboratories and for the EuroHab moon habitat) but not yet where the two places meet,” Medioni says. “NASA excels in creating highly functional gear for extreme environments. Fashion can draw inspiration from NASA’s innovations in materials, such as fabrics that regulate temperature or resist radiation, to design clothing that enhances comfort and performance in everyday life.”
Perhaps most interesting, though, are the strides that could be taken in adaptive fashion, currently a markedly overlooked section of the industry; models with visible disabilities feature in 0.02 per cent of fashion campaigns, yet represent 24 per cent of the population.
“NASA’s research into adaptive technology, like shape-memory materials, can influence the design of adaptive clothing for individuals with mobility challenges or disabilities, improving their quality of life,” Medioni says.
It was a sector highlighted during September’s London Fashion Week by Unhidden, the inclusive brand founded by Victoria Jenkins in 2016, where garments are made with solutions for disabled people in mind. Sometimes, these are as simple as extra-stretch fabrics and strategic fastenings, but with greater research and resources there is no doubt the possibilities can expand exponentially.
Design solutions come from unexpected places, and as Prada’s engineers make outfits for the moon, they may discover avenues to explore for those less concerned with defying gravity. If they do, these should not be ignored.
