BITCH CONCENTRATE PLAYBOY THREATENS MY BUNDLE OF PRADA DESERT JOY!!!!!

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PRADA'S FUTURE AT RISK AFTER PLAYBOY PLAYS COPY BUNNY CAT!!! 

"it's an art statement. 

And it's on private property."

-Boyd Elder (Smart Person Representative)

THE famous Prada Marfa "shop" may be closed down after being classified as an "illegal outdoor advertising sign" by the Texas Department of Transportation. The shop - which isn't actually a working store but is, in fact, an installation by British-based Scandinavian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset - has fallen foul of federal law by displaying the Prada logo on a highway without permission.

THE BACKSTORY? The invasion of Playboy Marfa. The name parallels Prada Marfa - a move, it would seem, meant to attract the magnitude of attention enjoyed by the original Prada installation.

Like some BITCH CONCENTRATE, this stupid Playboy stunt has has got the local authorities  reassessing what belongs on the roadside, and a fake Prada shop created eight years ago may no longer make the cut.

This Catalyst, consisting of a 1972 Dodge Charger on top of a box in front of a 40ft neon Playboy bunny sign, designed by the artist Richard Phillips for Playboy  has been given a 60 day lifespan after breaching the 1965 "Highway Beautification Act" that all display signage must have a permit. 

Installation BITCH CONCENTRATE

  Neither Prada nor Playboy have the Beauty Permit.

Installation PRADA JOY

"I would have thought the statute of limitations had expired," Boyd Elder, a local artist and the smart person site representative for Prada Marfa, told The New York Times. "If it really is against the regulations, they should have found out in 2005 when it was erected."

Um - crystal DER clear obvious DER difference between the two?!?! .. 

Prada Marfa =  legitimate art installation designed as a critique of the luxury goods industry.

It has NO commercial relationship with the company it portrays AND IS NOT FUNDED BY PRADA, only sanctioned by it, and in turn critiques it. DER.

The artists refused to gain permission for the piece, erected eight years ago, because they do not interpret it as advertising. Although Madame Prada gave the logo-go-ahead, and provided the shoes and bags that dress the interior of the "shop", there is "no commercial relationship" between the artists and Prada.

Playboy Marfa = absolute sales pitch AND EXPLICITLY PAID FOR BY PLAYBOY, positioning the publication as something "cool" enough for the kind of people who check out wry, absurdist art installations in the middle of the desert. Cheap, Cheesy, and reaking of crass consumerism. And what's with the Dodge on top? Ew!

Prada, however, is never open. Its riddled with bullets and isn't maintained: its designed to be gradually destroyed by the desert - or aliens.

Says the Prada artists Elmgreen and Dragset, "If they want to remove it because of bureaucracy, we tear it down," Elmgreen told the New York Times earlier this month.

 "And then we can say that one of the quite well-known permanent artworks — that hasn't cost taxpayers anything and that has been elected one of the most-worth-seeing roadside attractions in the States — is no longer."

  

Both these installations need an olive branch – a legal one. Prada VS Playboy, Art Vs Advertising. Kinda like a Simpsons episode of Chief Wiggiums beloved donut sign Vs Andy Warhols soup cans…if that exists?

But then there is silver lining in Prada Marfa's potentially short life. Maybe this (transport department decision) is the ultimate reaction to the art itself ?

While the department decides what do re the “1965 beauty law” I am rescheduling my road trip across the states to duty PRONTO.  

www.savepradamarfa.com

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THE DESERT WEARS PRADA

FEAR and FANTASY IN TEXAS!
If you were stuck in the desert, what would you need to survive? Water, food, a Prada handbag perhaps? 

I have a P.R.A.D.A obsession. Who doesn't? Unlike most people though, its not because I actually like what I see on that catwalk half the seasons - or sometimes at all. I like Prada because like its mother  nature  Miuccia, every once in a while it pulls off some totally random unexpected creation - and I'm not talking about a handbag. Miccucia is called one of the "worst dressed" by Italians, and in turn she tells other Italians  "The more sexy you make yourself appear - the less you will have sex". LOLZ. I love their fashion films, (cleverly disguising fur coats in therapy classes).

I also like that Mui Mui is named after her nickname. Makes me wonder  what my nickname label would be. "Legs" or  "Der"?

ANYWHO, my ALL TIME favourite peep into the Prada past is, by far, the Prada Store, en Route 90 in Texas, 60 km from the nearest town of Marfa with just 2,500 residents, situated over the rainbow and - definitely the best thing since to happen  since the Wizard of Oz and its glittering red slippers. Its a  permanently installed non-functioning PRADA store and its an art piece. 

.....!!!!Jenius (my mix of jealous and genius), where art and desert collide with tornado Prada.

The Jenius' behind this high end mirage are Berlin based artistic partners Elmgreen and Dragset, the Art Production Fund and Muiccia Prada, who personally selected the genuine Prada shoes and handbags from the fall/winter 2005 collection.

Im very interested in the dark forces of fashion in all its temperance and exclusiveness and this lonely Prada store in the middle of the Texan desert playing with this idea of being hyper exclusivenes's genius to me. Fashion is so dependant on the consumer, yet the shop is forever closed and placed at a very remote location. Art for all its eternity and vanity have collided well with the hear and now of fashion (in Texas heh heh).

This collision and collaboration of artworlds and fashion industries serves as a surrealist commentary on Western materialism - there's a dry sense of irony and a strange sense of odd isolation. The idea that so many people have and will pass through (myself included) I find strangely moving and powerful. Power Full Prada. 

For both the sake of art world and the fashion industry, its one big challenge of the future will be to dare to be more inclusive, without being populist. If fashion likes a challenge then thats the one! 

FACTS on P.M Route 90 Marfa, TX, 79843 

1. TEXAS does not actually have a Prada Store (a real one.)

2.It cost $80,000 (40 Prada Handbags)

3. It's built with “earth-friendly”, biodegradable materials and was never intended to be repaired or require upkeep - The idea is that it will slowly melt into Prada oblivion over Prada time.

4. All the shoes are right footed and chosen by Miuccia Prada herself from the Fall 2005 collection - suitable for Aliens, high end podiatrists and/or a person with 2 right feet.

5.Lets face the facts, its a fab place for a garage sale, hitchhiking and a SpiderChav sighting!

6. Prada Marfa is actually a trap set by fashion obsessed aliens, a sealed time capsule, meant to attract potential abductees.  Cowboys, Spiderchavs and Models: 

BEWARE.

 My timeless Prada persuit wish for SS15*** is bring back those RUBY RED SLIPPERS! (and put a set under the Prada Marfa!)

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