NAT Tong is the owner of @prada.archive, a feed of Prada imagery and pieces from 1990 to today. “It was quite an innocent beginning. I didn’t start with the knowledge or intention to make a big page with a large audience. Prada was a brand that I loved and I wanted to share things with people on the same wavelength as me,” Nat Tong, owner of @prada.archive, tells Glass.
Self-proclaimed lover of the ‘90s era of Prada – “‛90s Prada is my favourite thing in the world” – the 22- year-old Londoner, Tong, has been collecting any visual and clothing references of the athleisure reign at Prada that he comes across. What started as a compilation of images and garments inherited from his parents, soon became an active passion and career.
Nat Tong with some of his key Prada finds
“In terms of the content I have at my disposal, there’s no end to it really.” In 2018, for the AW collection, Miuccia Prada reinstated the codes of Prada Linea Rossa, the house’s sportswear-inspired and nylon-heavy line that first launched in 1997, and in turn reignited the athleisure wear for a new generation. Tong’s @prada.archive reflects this timeless style, with images interspersed between editorials from SS99 and the house’s latest designs.
When Tong began compiling imagery for his instagram account, he meticulously went through Vogue Runway and Pradasphere, putting images in subfolders marked by collection. Over time, with knowledge has come intuitive thinking and now Tong can recognise photographers and stylists to determine whether a shoot will include Prada before having to research it. As a result, Tong has inadvertently built an impressive archive of fashion show history and editorial shoots from 1988 until today.
Nat Tong’s collection of Prada’s nylon designs
A repository of Prada imagery Nat Tong has, but in terms of tangible items, he is one of the young collectors who has started when the competition is particularly cut-throat. “I’m trying to accumulate pieces but it’s always hard to accept that I have to part ways with a huge amount of money,” he tells me. “I guess that’s a reflection of this generation of internet, buying and selling. People just know something has value then they’ll resell it for double the price.” Thanks to an array of pop culture references (The Devil Wears Prada is just one) and lyrics in music, people outside of fashion have become acquainted with the brand.
This, combined with the fact that Miuccia Prada is regarded as challenging conventional designs with the notion of ugly chic, has produced a legion of admirers. Unfortunately, herein lies the crux of the archival fashion industry, if you haven’t already built a collection and consequentially, a currency of exchange, starting out is going to cost you. As Tong reflects, however, “The internet has allowed people like me to start their own collections from their own home … We’re part of the generation who’ve really benefited from the internet. Ultimately, I can only see it as a positive. I just need to move and adjust to the times.”
‘90s cream vest with nylon back by Prada
And as we agree, “You can come across really funny charity shop finds where people will give stuff away that they don’t know the value in, they’re usually outside of London or in a little shop in a country village.” Two of his most prized possessions are a cream vest with nylon back and cotton and an aqua blue cropped jacket from the ‘90s. “They signify what I love about Prada, the high fashion mixed with the athleisure that the brand has become synonymous with.”
Nat Tong’s Prada archive
In just two years since he started the instagram page, Tong has had features in leading publications, reached nearly 50 thousand followers, and has joined Show Studio on live panel discussions about Prada and menswear with experts in the field, such as the senior editor of LOVE [at time of writing], Pierre A. M’Pelé; the fashion director at Glamour, Alexandra Fullerton; and Luke Meagher, aka Haute Le Mode. For Nat Tong, his @prada.archive account is flourishing at just the right time. In this year alone, Prada has made fashion history with the new partnership of Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada as Co-Creative Directors – the first of its kind in the industry. “It’s like two titans coming together, it’s an exciting time.”
“Miuccia always says Prada are clothes for living life in,” Tong says when I ask how he feels wearing Prada, a mantra he also lives by. “I feel comfortable – comfortable in the knowledge that I’m wearing a great, high-quality piece of clothing that is timeless.”
by Lily Rimmer