In an age of digital effects and AI imagery, Prada has chosen pencil and paper for the festive season. Its Holiday 2026 campaign, called Drawing Prada and previewed by Vanity Fair Italia on 27 October, places real actors inside hand-drawn winter worlds, where illustrated woodland animals come to life around them and around the house’s accessories.
A fairy tale drawn by hand
The animation was directed by John Pomeroy, a veteran of classic cinema animation whose career, as WWD notes, includes work on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, Pocahontas and Fantasia 2000. He led a team of illustrators who drew the characters frame by frame, while the photographer Glen Luchford shot the live-action scenes, matching his lighting and perspective to the drawings.
The cast belongs to a new generation of international talent: Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke, who starred together in Stranger Things, the Chinese singer and actor Chen Haoyu, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Luther Ford. In the short films that accompany the stills, a sly fox follows Hawke through the snow, mice make off with Sink’s shoes, a snow lynx sets its sights on Chen Haoyu’s bag, and rabbits and bats play with Ford’s leather pieces. Elle adds that a snowball lands in Harrison Jr.’s nylon backpack, and that one scene with Sink is lit only by the glow of a fireplace.
Why the human touch matters
Vanity Fair Italia reads the project as a gentle act of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with hand-drawn cartoons, and as a nod to the craftsmanship that sits at the heart of Prada’s work. In a behind-the-scenes video, Pomeroy explains that he learned his trade with pencil and paper and wants to pass that approach on to future generations. He says the point of hand-drawn animation is to show that handcrafted work still has value today, and that the aim is to draw viewers into a willing suspension of disbelief.
The collection itself, as Elle describes it, leans on technical outerwear, candy-coloured stripes and occasion knitwear, with bags and shoes at the centre of the story.
If the campaign has you dreaming of winter evenings by the fire, our crossbody bags and backpacks are ready for snowy walks, while delicate earrings, pendant necklaces and rings add a little sparkle to festive knitwear. Browse the full bag collection for gift ideas.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia, “Prada, la magia delle feste prende vita attraverso un disegno da favola” by Laura Scafati (27 October 2026); WWD, “Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu Star in Prada Holiday 2026 Campaign” by Sandra Salibian (27 October 2026); Elle, “How Prada Brought Its Hand-Drawn Holiday Campaign to Life” by Matthew Velasco (27 October 2026). Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
