Space is an unforgiving environment. It is cold and inhospitable and has no understanding of fashion designers and their processes. There is no “air kissing” in the vacuum of space. Yet, in October 2024, at the International Astronautical Congress, Axiom Space and Prada revealed the flight design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit that the first woman on the moon could wear as part of NASA’s Artemis III mission.
The new design has the usual components, with the helmet, visor and Portable Life Support System backpack marked with the characteristic Prada Linea Rossa red line throughout. Apart from that, the exterior looks the same as any spacesuit has for the past six decades. The improvements are in the details.
Space is arguably the final frontier for the fashion industry. It is exactly the kind of environment that will test design, materials and manufacturing to the absolute limit. By entering into partnership with Axiom Space, Prada is boldly going where no fashion house has gone before. At the same time, the knowledge gained in these extreme conditions will filter down to benefit terrestrial clothing.
Front and profile of the Prada Axiom spacesuit. © Prada Axiom Space.
This alliance is born out of the brave new world of private sector space exploration. President Donald Trump is the first since John F. Kennedy to explicitly state that NASA will send humans back to the Moon. Believing that the public purse should no longer be the sole organisation in charge of the space programme, spacesuit design and provision has switched to outside contractors. Private companies will not only commercially develop the assets for exploration but will retain all property and proprietary rights too.
In June 2022, NASA announced it had selected Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to compete in the development and provision of next-generation spacesuits and spacewalk systems to test – and later use outside the International Space Station (ISS) – as well as on the lunar surface for the crewed Artemis missions. The collaboration with Prada came from Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Prada Group, who reached out to the newly founded Axiom Space during Covid to suggest the partnership. “Our group has disrupted a lot in the past; maybe this is another opportunity where we could disrupt a little more. Axiom itself was a little surprised,” Mr Bertelli stated.
Throughout the 21st century, Prada has experimented with new fabrics used traditionally […]
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Author: Andrew Hildreth
Leading image: Prada Axiom spacesuit at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, 2024. © Prada.
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