At a Glance

• Prada has opened a permanent brand-history exhibition in Milan.

• The exhibition is fully booked into the new year.

• The company expects it to add significantly to annual revenue.

Prada's new permanent exhibition in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele takes visitors through more than a century of fashion history, and the company says it is already paying off commercially.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• Bertelli on the Commercial Effect: "The exhibition is a multiplier." — Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Group Marketing Officer, Prada Group.

• Bertelli on Customer Behavior: "We see that the customers who go through the museum have a completely different perspective of the brand, and also they browse the store with completely different minds." — Lorenzo Bertelli.

• Focus Area: The "Pradasphere" exhibition and its role in Prada's expansion in Milan.

Prada projects the exhibition will add 100 million euros ($111 million) in annual revenue, a target Bertelli says could be exceeded.

Visitors sometimes return to the stores to make additional purchases after walking through its eight rooms.

Only 20 people are admitted each hour by appointment, and Bertelli says the display will keep evolving.

Exhibits range from early Fratelli Prada bags and accessories, including a pleated evening bag with a devil-head clasp seen on the Spring-Summer 2024 runway, to Miuccia Prada's nylon bags from the 1970s, a chocolate brown opera coat from her 1988 debut collection, the 2012 Flame heels, and the Formica tile prints behind the "ugly chic" reputation.

A secret underground passage linking the menswear and womenswear boutiques holds lesser-known chapters, including a chandelier dress made for Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby."

The journey ends with a prototype spacesuit developed with Axiom Space for NASA's Artemis IV moon mission, targeted for 2028.

Its outer layer is built to withstand extreme thermal conditions, an outgrowth of materials expertise gained through Prada's Luna Rossa America's Cup sailing team.

FYI

Mario and Martino Prada founded Fratelli Prada in 1913 in the Galleria, and the brothers designed the brand's signature inverted triangle logo.

Prada's presence there now spans eight floors, including the Marchesi 1824 pastry shop and the Osservatorio Fondazione Prada contemporary art space.

Bertelli, 38, son of Miuccia Prada and chairman Patrizio Bertelli, has been identified as the group's future leader and is also executive chairman of Versace.