The delicate space between when a libidinal urge becomes a decision—this is where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons decided to start for their Fall/Winter 2025 menswear show. Titled Unbroken Instincts, the collection explores a sophisticated spontaneity, with psychedelic-patterned textiles placed in tension with hyper-rational starched-collars.

The collection approaches fashion instinctively. The classic Prada refined look is subverted and quite literally unbuttoned: a prominent silhouette on the runway features cigarette pants and an unbuttoned dress shirt and coat which showed a vertical strip of skin of the models’ torsos, from neck to bellybutton. This styling choice is as smart as it is deviant; the models become instinctual beings. Are they ripping their clothes off or have they decided to walk out with them only half on? Shearling pelts weave their way through the 57 looks, first as an over the shoulder accessory, then an asymmetrical lining on the collars of structured coats, and, toward the end of the collection, worn as open-chest gilets or hugging bare chests in tank-style vests.

Per the show notes, “Cinematic references provoke universal memories,” and golf course-worthy plaids on collared shirts and coats are, for this writer, reminiscent of Caddyshack (1980), and rich jewel-tone leather bowling bags and wide-lapel Western shirts call forth The Big Lebowski (1998). Every look is styled with a pair of purposefully scuffed cowboy boots somewhat evocative of Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden in Fight Club (1999), in colors ranging from sunshine yellow to Lady Liberty verdigris. Regardless of any reference to a specific film, this season’s Prada urges us to dare a bit, to dabble in the intuitive act of getting dressed rather than compose a perfectly measured outfit.

A three-story metal scaffold climbing designed by AMO, OMA’s design-research arm, acts as the runway stage within Fondazione Prada’s Deposito, an industrial element that contrasts with the softer Art Deco-esque lines of production designer Catherine Martin’s wall-to-wall carpet. The effect is an intimate sense of urgency, where the eye is drawn in close to interpret details, yet overwhelmed by fur, leather, plaid, cowboys, and remarkably tailored suits. These parts, which on paper shouldn’t go together, cohere precisely in their disorder: they are a living portrait of the Prada Fall/Winter 2025 man: a man who prioritizes feeling. This season, Miuccia and Raf show that to outdo yourself, first you must render yourself undone.