Neiman Marcus in Dallas and San Francisco – WWD

Prada Tropico is making the international rounds, and its next stops are Neiman Marcus in Dallas and San Francisco.

Prada’s exclusive installation features multiple combinations of colored stripes and light effects, creating a hypnotic experience. The installation is in the store and windows in Dallas from Wednesday to June 1 and in San Francisco from May 19 to June 8, its final U.S. stop.

The Dallas NorthPark store features Prada Tropico women’s and men’s, whereas Neiman Marcus San Francisco will offer women’s only. Both of the installations are located by the stores’ entrances in highly trafficked areas.

“With the success of last year’s exclusive Prada Outdoor Coast at Neiman Marcus, we are excited to continue our strong partnership and business momentum as Prada’s exclusive U.S. partner for the Prada Tropico installation,” said Lana Todorovich, president and chief merchandising officer of Neiman Marcus Group. “The immersive, physical component in our stores provides an opportunity to engage with customers in an elevated and dynamic way that will provide connection and ‘retail-tainment’ that our customers are looking for.

“For Prada Tropico, the merchandising landscape is intentionally mesmerizing with vertical and horizontal lines in contrasting colors, geometric shapes, tree-like displays on the walls and a bold, neon Prada logo to tie it all together,” she said.

The Prada Tropico installation has been traveling all over the world, hitting stops such as Bergdorf Goodman windows, the Prada stores on Broadway in SoHo, the Miami Design District and Beverly Hills, as well as Harrods, Galeries Lafayette and La Rinascente, along with Prada stores in Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, China and Hong Kong.

There are large, ivory white and green striped columns that mark the entrance to the installation and give way to an explosion of stylized tropical forest, with hundreds of Prada hats of various colors, models and materials growing like leaves and flowers on green metal trunks and branches. The floors echo the pattern on the walls, while a suspended illuminated Prada logo dominates the space.

The windows highlight intense contrasting color pairings and geometric patterns creating graphic effects that evoke the installation’s facade, playfully creating opposition between the interior and exterior and the cornices and displays. There are juxtaposing vertical and horizontal lines in green, white, black, blue, red, yellow and orange and the displays are dominated by a neon Prada triangle.

The clothes feature colored stripes in flowing silk blouses; mini, calf-length and full skirts; vibrant pajama-inspired looks, and casual men’s shirts and shorts. The same hues are repeated in the accessories. There are striped hats constructed with raffia, nylon and cotton drill materials across several silhouettes. The Prada Triangle bag is available in leather and raffia as well.

For women, ready-to-wear retails from $895 to $3,550; bags are $1,290 to $3,400; accessories are $395 to $1,690, and footwear is $480 to $1,350. For men, rtw is $825 to $8,200; bags are $1,690 to $2,700; accessories are $295 to $895, and footwear is $480 to $1,050.

Marcelo Noschese, chief executive officer of Prada Americas, said, “Prada Tropico Neiman Marcus resonates with energy. One enters the installation through a stylized tropic forest — clients are drawn in. The performance is strong, and we are happy to continue and grow this partnership, engaging with clients in these important markets.”

Asked why she chose Dallas and San Francisco for the Prada installation, Todorovich said, “Our NorthPark location has a very devoted customer base and is constantly one of the highest-performing stores in the company. NorthPark also had incredible success with Prada Outdoor Coast last summer and as a result, we are continuing to engage with this discerning audience. This year, we are expanding this experience to San Francisco as a very important market for us on the West Coast where we have a strong, loyal following that we believe will be delighted with this experience. The NorthPark and San Francisco stores are hosting the Prada Tropico installation and experience; however, customers in all our stores can shop the collection with their sales associate or style adviser through our remote selling services.”

As for what she anticipates will be bestsellers, Todorovich said there are  so many “exceptional collectible pieces in this collection,” and she believes that the new additions to Prada’s iconic styles will be highly favored by their customers.

“Textured bags are prominent this season and we love the iconic Triangle bag in the new raffia rendition in neutral and bold colors or in the studded allover crystal version,” Todorovich said. “We are seeing customers gravitate toward nostalgic trends and we anticipate the chunky yet lightweight foam rubber sandals from this collection to be a bestseller. We anticipate the silk pajama sets in the ready-to-wear collection to be another bestseller, a tribute to the brand heritage interpreted in bright colors — perfect for the summer months.”

She also said Neiman’s loves the versatile day-to-night take on sleepwear with colorful stripes across poplin separates, as well as fluid silk shirtdresses paired with boldly colored monochromatic Re-Nylon cropped shirts. “The bucket hat tree installation is certainly an indicator of its success as one of Prada’s most iconic accessories. Prada Tropico features new raffia and striped pattern version that we are excited about,” she said.

Todorovich believes that the installation helps build relationships with the customer and helps differentiate the offerings. “At Neiman Marcus, we believe that connection with our customers is more important than consumption, relationships are more important than transactions and curation and experiences are more inspiring than endless assortments. We continue to build on this unique differentiation and positioning and engage our customers with curation, exclusivity, lifestyle assortments and extraordinary one-of-a-kind events and installations. We frequently collaborate with our top-performing brands through exclusive products and experiences to bring this luxury of a relationship to life.”

According to Todorovich, over the past 12 months Neiman’s has created more than 10 immersive experiences across all stores and online. Activations such as the Hypebeast x Neiman Marcus virtual showroom featuring exclusive sneakers from leading luxury brands, installations such as Balmain x Barbie, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Merry-Go-Round the World and Tyler the Creator’s Golf le Flueur earned millions of impressions on social media and in the press. “Through these partnerships, we continue to find innovative ways to elevate experiences for our customers,” she said.

She noted that working with global luxury leaders like Prada give the retailer an important opportunity to engage with new audiences as well as their loyal customers. “

”The response from all the customer groups has been exceptional, highlighting a desire to engage, connect, experience and have fun with fashion again. Our Dallas and San Francisco stores are hosting several invitation-only events throughout the collection, including a brunch and cocktail hour, where guests can explore Prada Tropico in an intimate setting.”

When asked how previous Prada installations have performed, Todorovich said, that at the unveiling last year, they had a waiting list of customers — “the anticipation was high and is again this year.” She believes the Prada Tropico installation will be even more successful.

 

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