Prada Marfa

I'll admit right up front that I'm about twelve years too late for this blog post, yet I still feel compelled to write it, because it's the perfect blend of luxury brand marketing with pop culture infusion.

I just recently learned of Prada Marfa, an "art installation" set up in 2005 to stylistically represent a Prada store, located in remote Marfa, Texas. Marfa is absolutely remote, but it's also a bit of an artist colony. A unique town unto itself, with this particular installation adding to the town's lure.

Prada Marfa was intended to literally sit on the landscape and never be touched, left only to disintegrate into the natural being of the area. That plan has changed a few times over the years  as vandals and graffiti artists have altered its state, prompting the artists to keep up its original integrity.

Although it's faced attempts to tear it down, it remains as a permanent art exhibit for those to observe and partake, with social media now at the center of its existence...certainly something not contemplated in 2005.

Queen Bey visits Prada Marfa

It's very cool to see a brand merged into an art form, in a way that's unique to this particular brand, and to this particular art colony. Through the windows viewers can see select Prada handbags and a series of left shoes, symbolic of the iconic brand itself. And it's very cool how it has endured through the years...not a lot does in our world.

It's quite brilliant, and I'm thrilled from both an art and marketing perspective that it has stood the test of time.

What's your experience? JIM.