The Curse of the Prada Girl

The significance of walking for Prada in fashion week is hailed has one of the most superlative achievements for any model. Much less appearing in a Prada campaign. These girls who open and close a Prada show or who are booked for a Prada campaign are thus expected to be thrusted into model limelight. Expected to attract every blue chip campaign option, editorial, and runway appearance in sight. But the question is, why is this not the case for numerous Prada girls?

Due to the longevity, prosperity, and ascendancy of Sasha Pivovarova, starting with her 6 Prada mainline campaigns, (S/S and F/W) Prada girls are expected to become the next great things in this industry.

After Sasha's last Prada campaign, Ymre Stiekema took the realm of the campaigns. Ymre had opened and closed Prada Spring Summer 2009 as a newcomer. Stiekema had a great run, appearing in Prada campaigns exclusively from S/S 09 to F/W 09 along with the numerous sub lines Prada has. But unlike Sasha, editorial appearances, magazine covers, and runway shows never piled in. Of course Ymre was busy with school at the time (and is just now committing to become a fulltime model again) but by the time of her last campaign, she disappeared. One of many girls to either open and close the show and/or appear in the campaign to do so.

Now also starring with Ymre in the F/W 09 campaign included Kendra Spears, Julia Hafstrom, Anna de Rijk, and Katlin Aas. Kendra had a fairly nice run around the time the campaign came out but her career stalled quite a bit. She did book cK White Label F/W 10 so we'll see how that pans out for her. Julia Hafstrom had one great season and faded afterwards along with Katlin Aas (whom I am quite fond of). Anna de Rijk has been the only one who's been able to maintain some level of consistency although clearly paling in comparison to Sasha Pivovarova.

I'll conclude this analysis with Rasa Zukauskaite. Rasa walked in the Prada S/S10 and wound up getting the campaign afterwards. Her campaign featured a product over model approach and heads turned to see how the industry would react to the new 'Prada girl'. Well, out of all the recent Prada girls, she's probably received the least amount back after her campaign. She did get a couple of blue chip editorial appearances and continues to be a staple at fashion week but she's merely faded into the crowd after being thrusted into the limelight with a solo Prada campaign.

So, I end this very long first post with the question of, what is the significance of a Prada campaign and can we expect these girls to become industry superstars?