This article appears in the forthcoming fall/winter issue, VMAN49!

There is a thin line between documentation and creation, non-fiction and make-believe. While every fashion editorial or cover image is a fantasy, they too capture a moment in time—the model, the trends, the larger pop cultural context. With each snap of the camera, creativity interweaves itself with history.

Take these backstage images of Prada’s Fall/Winter 2022 menswear show, captured by renowned photographer Willy Vanderperre. Shot candidly last winter in Milan, and with their primary focus being to document the stylistic brainchild of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, these images showcase the iconic fashion duo’s profound imagination through an unrehearsed and spontaneous lens. Coincidentally, the show’s backdrop delivered a futuristic atmosphere, although we’re tempted to now see it as a thing of the past.

Of Prada’s most recent collection—Spring/Summer 2023—Simons said, “The contrast of classicism and spontaneity lends it a sensitivity, an emotion.” By this he’s referring to the new collection’s illusion of simplicity (straightforward suits and overcoats, leather shorts, and the practical use of denim) and how, through clever styling and contextualization, these pieces come together in an inventive fashion. This contrasts the collection captured in these images, which instead took the idea of everyday work uniforms and elevated them to a new level of sophistication and radicality.

Through a historical lens, this type of documentation is of the utmost importance. While the fashion world tends to obsess with the new—there has been, as mentioned, a new season of Prada menswear since the time these photos were taken. We are in fact constantly referencing the past, rooting our creativity in recontextualizing and curating what’s already been done rather than inventing something 100% avant-garde (with some exceptions, of course). As Prada said in a statement following the show, “The practice of design—of fashion—is one of decision-making [and] curation alongside creation.” Without context, new collections are stripped of their meaning.

Obviously, as a fashion magazine, VMAN is starving for what’s next. One could say it’s our bread and butter. But perhaps it would benefit fashion lovers to focus less on garments being “so last season” and more on these pieces being a moment in time, an important puzzle piece in the beautiful image that is fashion history—leading us to where we are today, and what we will wear tomorrow. Yes, we starve for what’s to come, but sometimes mixing yesterday’s leftovers with today’s meal is what best hits the spot.