This time, Prada deliberately leans into intimacy. The campaign for its Fall/Winter 2026 collection is titled Simple Stories. It celebrates something seemingly ordinary, a private gesture or a quiet afternoon at home. American filmmaker Barry Jenkins took on the direction. He turned this small, everyday world into something worth pausing for.
Jenkins’s Signature: From Miami to Prada
Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was Moonlight, a coming-of-age story about a young Black boy in Miami. His win also made Oscar history. Presenters first mistakenly announced La La Land as the winner, in a now-famous envelope mix-up. That same night, Jenkins also took home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Since then, he has directed If Beale Street Could Talk and the Amazon series The Underground Railroad. In 2024, he also took on a major studio project, the prequel Mufasa: The Lion King for Disney. His signature style is defined by sensitivity to detail. He finds emotion in quiet, seemingly unimportant moments, exactly what he has now brought into the world of Prada.
Clothing as a Character in the Story
In the Simple Stories campaign, clothing doesn’t just serve as a backdrop. It becomes a genuine character. Domestic intimacy, everyday situations, and the clothing itself all get their own space here. The campaign alternates between still photographs and short film sequences. This creates the impression of fragments from a larger, only hinted-at story. It leaves the viewer somewhere between reality and fiction. Sometimes the characters know they’re being watched. Other times they appear completely natural and unaware.
The Faces of the Campaign
Four performers appear in front of the camera, each with a different path to the spotlight. Chinese actress and singer Chen Haoyu has starred in the musical Tick, Tick… Boom!. She also built a solo music career. In 2024, she became the first winner of the reality show Ride the Wind from the post-90s generation. American actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. has gone from a small role in 12 Years a Slave to acclaimed performances in Waves, Elvis, and Chevalier. He will soon take on the role of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Hunter Schafer is best known from the series Euphoria.
In 2021, she made Time’s 100 Next list, recognizing a hundred figures shaping the future. Finally, there’s Australian singer and actor Troye Sivan. He’s a multiple Grammy nominee with three studio albums and a role in the series The Idol behind him.
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons: Their Own Version of Cinema
Behind the entire campaign stand Prada’s creative directors, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Their approach to film is just as distinctive as their approach to fashion, simple, honest and human, exactly how they describe the campaign themselves. Creative direction of the campaign is handled by Ferdinando Verderi.
What This Says About Prada’s Direction
Simple Stories isn’t just another seasonal campaign. It’s something closer to a manifesto. Fashion campaigns often reach for grandeur and spectacle. Prada has chosen the opposite direction, toward quiet, ordinariness, and cinematic sensitivity. The collaboration with Barry Jenkins feels like a logical step. His work has always been built on finding big emotions in small moments. That’s exactly what Prada is aiming for too.
