The history and future of Prada in Tommaso Ebhardt’s book

From a small shop in the living room of Milan to a global brand worth billions of euros listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Prada challenges the conventions of luxury, subverts the rules of fashion. Between fashion and industry, art and the America’s Cup. It’s a 360 degree story Tommaso Ebhardtmanaging editor of Bloomberg for Southern Europe, explains in his new book ‘Prada, a family story‘, released on November 12th by Sperling & Kupfer. “Writing it I got the idea that there is something special in Prada – Ebhardt tells AdnKronos – what they call ‘Pradaness’, and you can actually feel it. I toured the company, I had access to the factories in Milan , in Valvigna, I spoke to many people and there is a very strong spirit of attachment that makes the difference. Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli’s goal is to ensure that this Pradaness survives They”.

Scanning company archives, historical sources, documents never seen before, and thanks to important testimonies, Ebhardt, also author of two bestselling biographies on Sergio Marchionne and Leonardo Del Vecchio, reveals hitherto unknown details about the origins of the Group and the plans for the future, including the details on the family succession that sees Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, ready to take up their baton both as manager and as major shareholder of the family holding. “Unlike other family groups, they are actually implementing this succession process, which has already started” observes Ebhardt. Starting with Lorenzo. “He was the one who wanted to get involved in the company and they are working to ensure that it can pass into his hands – he says -. Also from a creative point of view, the fact that Miuccia has a co-creative director like Raf Simons is an important step, so they are really thinking about the future.”

Prada is in a golden moment, it hasn’t missed a beat for a few years, and it is totally in contrast with its other competitors and the general slowdown that the luxury sector is showing. At the end of October the group presented its accounts for the nine months, reporting revenue growth of 15% and a turnover of over 3.8 billion euros, also thanks to the driving force of Miu Miu. “Maybe it’s a coincidence but since Lorenzo has been there they haven’t missed a beat – the author points out – they have transformed the family business into a company that can have a future. There were the arrivals of the CEO Andrea Guerra and the vice president Paolo Zannoni, who divided the company into businesses. Miu Miu and Prada are among the best-performing brands in the world, and in a third quarter in which everyone was desperate for China, Miu Miu doubled its sales.” The reason for this success, underlines Ebhardt, is probably not even known to Miuccia Prada herself: “She continues to design what she likes and has never been so contemporary”.

In the book, Ebhardt defines the Lady as “light years ahead” of many other stylists on the world scene: “I tried to understand her diversity, I was given access to people who are intellectually closest to her – she explains -. I spoke with the stylist Marc Jacobs, with Micheal Rock, author of Pradaphere, Francesco Vezzoli, an artist friend of Miuccia, with Jacques Herzog, architect of the Tate Modern, who created some stores and I got an idea of ​​what that something is special. 30 years ago Miuccia began to draw a woman who was not represented, modern, emancipated, who decides her own style and is now contemporary”. A narrative that today has encompassed the entire female hemisphere but not only, “since Miu Miu is also purchased by men. Miuccia does what she likes and has never been so contemporary.”

As for a possible luxury hub that could challenge the French giants, “it is not possible to do something comparable to Kering or LVMH, the differences in size are such that a similar Italian hub will never exist”. For its part, recalls Ebhardt, “Bertelli had tried years ago to create a consortium of Italian groups that would speak with one voice with the Chinese developers but nothing came of it”. Prada, therefore, “remains independent in a world that is concentrating in large hubs, to do so you must have something that others don’t have, something that Prada has and will continue to have”.

The author is convinced of this and has worked hard to give the reader a compelling story: “At the beginning it was very difficult to gain access to the world of Prada – he confesses – I felt like an outsider. Then I tried to make it clear what my intentions were, that is, to tell not only the company but also the people”. A successful resolution, it would seem: “The book ends with Miuccia backstage telling me ‘She and I should have a coffee’. I can’t tell you what we said to each other but for me it was also surprising on a personal level.”