Store as sculpture: The Marfa Prada.
Continuing a weekend of fashion+art amalgamations, I give you Prada Marfa: It doesn’t open. You can’t go inside. And you can’t buy anything. It’s a completely faux store outside of Marfa, Texas in the middle of nowhere. Made of earth-friendly earth, this biodegradable adobe sculpture will slowly melt back into the landscape—once the inevitable onslaught of looters remove the genuine Prada merchandise it contains.
West Texas is no stranger to faux ruins. “Reata,” the plywood thin prop-mansion used for the 1950s Elizabeth Taylor/Rock Hudson film Giant, weathered in the arid climate for years. Then there was the Oasis Gas Station for the movie Dancer, Texas, pop. 81 and finally Contrabando—a huge fake village built on Highway 170 that has appeared in countless US and Mexican movies—at least one of which was actually named Contrabando.
Prada Marfa’s slow fade to oblivion will no doubt provide countless hours of conversation for motorists driving through West Texas. (Thanks hydeordie, for the heads-up!)
