Italian luxury fashion house Prada has announced that it will be opening the doors to its first stand-alone dining space in Asia, this time at the Prada Rong Zhai (荣宅) in Shanghai, the historical early 1900s manor restored by Prada.
To add to the prestigious origins of the space, the Prada café and restaurant is conceived and co-signed by the Shanghai-born Hong Kong film auteur Wong Kar-wai (王家衛). The space will be open to the public from 31 March.
The dining space, located on the second floor of Rong Zhai, is named Mi Shang Prada Rong Zhai (迷上Prada荣宅, 迷上 means to be infatuated with). The design takes inspiration from Wong’s love for Shanghai and the “tête-bêche” upside-down jointed stamps. The café and restaurant aim to visually represent the joint and dialogue between Milan and Shanghai, and the cultures behind the two cities.
Mi Shang from Wong Kar-wai is also another effort from Prada after Bar Luce, a collaboration between the Fondazione Prada Milan and American film director Wes Anderson. Wong’s latest outing and his first TV series, Blossoms Shanghai, is seen by many as his love letter to the city. Prada also provided several costume pieces for the show, before hosting an event and display of the collaboration.
There has been a recent trend among global luxury brands that are not satisfied with just in-store cafés, moving to create dedicated and permanent standalone dining spaces in China and elsewhere. With forerunners such as the Louis Vuitton restaurant in Chengdu and the latest Armani restaurant, it seems luxury brands are also part of the “all brands will be lifestyle brands” trend.
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