Prada has enlisted veteran Disney animator John Pomeroy to bring Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke into a hand-drawn winter wonderland for its 2026 holiday campaign. Prada has never been content to let a campaign function as a simple catalogue of expensive things. Under Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the house continues to turn fashion imagery into a conversation about art, culture, and the unexpected. 

This time, it has brought in a veteran animator whose work includes Pocahontas and Fantasia 2000, giving its holiday storytelling a distinctly old-school touch.

John Pomeroy leads the animation for a campaign featuring Prada ambassadors Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu, and Kelvin Harrison Jr., alongside actor Luther Ford. Photographer and director Glen Luchford has crafted the live-action footage in coordination with the illustrated environments, making the actors look at home with the animated characters. Titled Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand, the campaign pairs luxury fashion with traditional pencil-and-paper animation.

In a scene from the campaign ad, three cartoon mice struggle to carry a spotted Prada loafer, while Sink watches their antics. Elsewhere, Hawke, who has always fittingly been vocal and eccentric, encounters a fox in a snowy forest, and a snow lynx eyes a Prada handbag. The animation is more than a nostalgic flourish. The campaign also folds a piece of fashion history into its fantasy: the reissued dalmatian-print loafers associated with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s 1995 appearance at the Bowery Bar. 

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The choice of animation also speaks to a wider question facing luxury advertising: when digital tools can generate almost anything, what makes an image feel worth looking at? 

John Pomeroy described the collaboration as an opportunity to bring two creative disciplines together. 

“It was an absolute honor to have Prada ask me to direct this series of 2D animated films for their 2026 holiday campaign,” he said, according to Women’s Wear Daily .

 “The merging of our two art forms took our combined creativity to the next level,” he said. In a behind-the-scenes video posted on YouTube, he also explained the intention behind choosing traditional animation.

“There’s a very distinct and purposeful reason to do hand-drawn animation, and that's to see that there's value in it,” he said in the video.

There is a business consideration behind that artistic statement, too. Prada Group reported a 2% increase in Prada retail sales at constant currency over the first nine months of 2026, while Miu Miu recorded 1% growth against a much stronger comparison period. In a competitive luxury market, a campaign that foregrounds craftsmanship gives the house a way to communicate its values without turning every frame into a conventional product shot. 

By letting illustrated animals lead the eye toward its accessories, Prada makes the merchandise part of the story rather than the entire plot. With Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand, the house gives holiday advertising the texture of a hand-illustrated fable, proving that fashion can sell a feeling as persuasively as a silhouette. 

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Do you think traditional animation makes Prada’s campaign stand out? Share your thoughts in the comments.