Why pay for therapy? Miranda July will give you advice for free.
Prada announced this week that they’re building on its star-studded Fall ad campaign, “Now That We’re Here,” with a free hotline manned by the acclaimed artist, author, and filmmaker. Billboards advertising the toll-free number atop Willy Vandeperre’s photos are set to sweep London, New York, Los Angeles, Milan, and Bangkok this month. In a statement provided to WWD, Prada said the new hotline “combines technology with gestures to the analog.”
“Honest human interaction is at the core of Prada’s identity,” the house stated in a release around the campaign this summer, highlighting the partnership in place between Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada since 2020. “Every Prada collection is a conversation, an interplay of contrasting opinions and viewpoints, both within the designs themselves, and in their rapport with their audience.”
Hunter Schafer, Damson Idris, and Harris Dickinson in Prada’s F/W 2024 campaign. Courtesy of Prada.
Vandeperre’s visuals encapsulate that spirit by placing five stars in conversation. Damson Idris, best known for his role on FX’s hit crime series SNOWFALL, sits in a trio with Hunter Schafer, of Euphoria fame, listening intently to recent BAFTA Rising Star awardee Harris Dickinson. Elsewhere, Letitia Wright—who played Shuri in Black Panther (2018)—reclines while handling a corded red phone. In a similar shot, actress and Prada newbie Yili Ma holds an orange phone to her ear. July wrote conversation cards for the accompanying footage by Oscar-nominated documentarian Garrett Bradley, but Bradley’s latest short films for the campaign reveal it’s her voice on the other end of the line in these photos.
The new hotline allows fans to play along. A disclaimer greets callers dialing in. After that, July answers with a “hello” so authentic that even the boldest participants might find themselves flustered, as if they’ve just come face to face unexpectedly with the art star herself.
July has written and recorded several scripts for the hotline, so callers can navigate their own conversational adventures. Here’s a tip from experience—if you simply stutter out an anxious “hi” in response to July’s initial greeting, she’ll ask if you want advice, like most people who’ve been calling in seem to. After professing that it’s a matter of the blind leading the blind, July will admit that she’s been reading a lot of self-help books lately, so she does have a few tips to share.
Miranda July in New York, 2022. Photo: Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images for National Geographic.
Depending on how you approach the call, July will offer friendly conversation and surreal scenarios, as well as numerous varieties of advice, ranging from love to creativity. In fact, if you play your cards right, July will even solicit advice from you. No matter how it goes, expect the call to cut off around two minutes in.
This project’s just the latest chapter in July’s relationship with Prada. Earlier this year, on the heels of her first novel in nearly a decade, July presented a retrospective of her 30-year oeuvre at Fondazione Prada. There’s no telling whether this fashionable friendship will continue, or how long July’s hotline will stay live, so call (833) 526-8880 and chat with the artist—before she starts charging a rate.