In the flurry of pre–Met Gala festivities on Thursday night, Prada carved out a moment for the gentlemen, opening the doors to its gleaming new Fifth Avenue flagship dedicated entirely to menswear. Awash in mint-green walls and lit by fluorescent glow, the 13,000-square-foot space was a study in the house’s signature clinical-cool minimalism. Guests dressed the part, diving into their closets—and archives—for cherished Prada looks in homage.
“I’ve been a Prada lover and fan for so long,” Tracee Ellis Ross told Vogue as the evening began, recalling her devotion to a particular past season. “Do you remember the one with the big checks? There were these oversized blue skirts, spats over the shoes, art drawn all over the clothes… That was epic. I don’t even know which season it was, but I’ve been a Prada girl for a long time.”
As guests wound through the meticulously curated space, a few couldn’t resist the urge to shop. A homeware nook caught the attention of Hunter Schafer and her stylist Dara Allen, while others lingered in the footwear section, slipping out of loafers to try on brogues adorned with the signature triangle logo. But it was a set of black leather travel trunks—price upon request—that drew the most longing stares and whispered “May I place an order?”
In a quiet corner by a display of belts, Benedict Cumberbatch mused on what draws him to the brand: “I’ve never been brand-obsessed, but I love the aesthetic—or maybe more the philosophy—behind Prada,” he said. “There’s a subtlety to what they do that isn’t always immediately apparent, and that nuance always appeals to me. It’s elegant but expressive, restrained yet radical. Then there’s Mrs. Prada herself—one of those rare cultural figures able to reflect the wider zeitgeist through her brand.”
As rumors of a surprise performance began to build, guests made their way a few doors down Fifth Avenue to the discreet basement entrance of Aman New York. There, in the hotel’s moody subterranean jazz club, the after-party unfolded. DJ Arman Nafeei—fresh off a Harvard Business School appearance with Lauryn Hill—spun the early set before handing over the stage to Giveon.
The Grammy-nominated crooner, clad in Prada sunglasses, serenaded the crowd with hits including his new single, “Twenties.”
“I’m a big shades guy, so that’s where my love for this brand started,” he told Vogue. “As a musician, I make a hundred tiny decisions for every single line in a song. It’s the same with style—I don’t want to waste time in front of the mirror every day. So I have a uniform. I come here, I know what I want, and I know what I’m going to get. I guess I’m a Prada boy now.”
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