Ottessa Moshfegh brings Prada’s SS25 campaign to life

Barely two months into 2025 and fashion has already offered up a feast. So far, we’ve had the menswear shows and Haute Couture week, with ready-to-wear kicking off in New York later today (February 3). There have been major news stories too, like Kim Jones leaving Dior or Glenn Martens heading to Margiela. And then there’s the sweet, palate-cleansing dessert: the campaigns. 

Since December, brands have been rolling out their SS25 campaigns (all of which you can catch up with here), and now, Prada has delivered a double-serving. First unveiled last month, Prada’s SS25 campaign features Carey Mulligan photographed by Steven Meisel. In each image, Mulligan embodies an entirely different character – and we’ve been given more context as to why.

In the new project, titled 10 Protagonists, we see that each one of Mulligan’s characters has now been given her own back story, with a little help from the award-winning author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh. The SS25 campaign has been extended to include 10 short stories, accompanying each of Meisel’s images, all brought together in a limited-edition Prada publication. 

The Moshfegh collaboration follows last year’s AW24 campaign, featuring Hunter Schafer, Harris Dickinson and Letitia Wright, which included a direct hotline to acclaimed author Miranda July. According to a Dazed interview with Moshfegh from 2023, plans for a film adaptation for My Year of Rest and Relaxation directed by Yorgos Lanthimos are still, slowly, in the works. Though it seems for now at least, she’s taken a break from screenwriting to write short stories for Mrs Prada instead.