Giant Roadside Landmarks Across the U.S. and How They Got There

There are Prada shoes inside. There are handbags, immaculate display windows, a recognizable logo, and the polished appearance of an expensive boutique. What Prada Marfa does not have is a customer entrance. The door is sealed, nothing has a usable price tag, and nobody has ever worked behind the counter. Artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset placed the installation beside U.S. Route 90 in 2005, choosing a lonely stretch of West Texas near Valentine rather than a fashionable shopping district. Even the name is slightly mischievous because Marfa itself sits roughly 37 miles away. Prada allowed the artists to use its trademark, and Miuccia Prada selected merchandise from the fashion house’s 2005 collection for the windows, but the project was conceived as art rather than as retail promotion.