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| Prada |
From Nagano Mei, Kim Soo Hyun, to Cai Xukun. Fashion may be fabulous, but for Prada, fame is starting to feel a little... cursed. Once revered for their sharp tailoring and even sharper celebrity endorsements, Italian luxury giant Prada is now gaining attention for something far less chic: scandal. And no, we’re not just talking the odd messy breakup or Twitter drama.
We’re talking full-on reputation meltdowns, legal sagas, and jaw-dropping allegations – all involving their brand ambassadors.
Dubbed by netizens as the “Prada Curse”, the phenomenon has become a hot topic across East Asian fandoms and fashion circles alike.
It’s not hard to see why: the list of celebrities who've run into serious trouble after being tapped by Prada just keeps growing.
Let’s start with the most recent headline-grabber: Japan’s sweetheart Mei Nagano.
In early 2025, she found herself tangled in rumours of not one, but two overlapping affairs – one with fellow Japanese actor Kei Tanaka, and another with South Korea’s Kim Mu-jun.
Both parties denied the allegations, but the damage was done. Nagano’s squeaky-clean image took a knock, and questions swirled around whether the Prada logo was becoming a bit of a hex.
Over in Korea, actor Kim Soo-hyun – another high-profile Prada face – faced scrutiny over his alleged involvement with the late actress Kim Sae-ron.
The online backlash was fierce, and in a rare move, Prada officially dropped him, likely in an attempt to distance itself from the noise.
But the curse didn’t start this year. Prada’s trail of tarnished reps goes back a decade.
In 2021, Chinese actress Zheng Shuang lost her Prada deal just eight days after it was announced, following accusations of tax evasion and controversy surrounding her surrogacy scandal.
That same year, former megastar Kris Wu was arrested and later convicted for rape – a seismic fall from grace that saw Prada scramble to end their partnership almost overnight.
Even earlier, in 2014, Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung was arrested for drug use, and in 2017, Chinese rapper PG One drew outrage for drug-related lyrics and a messy extramarital affair – another black mark in Prada’s portfolio of partnerships.
And let’s not forget Cai Xukun, once a golden boy of Chinese pop and a major Prada asset.
His glossy campaigns plastered billboards and ran in endless loops online, until scandals caught up with him too.
What was once a brilliant brand marriage now seems like yet another cautionary tale in the curse’s expanding legend.
With celebrity scandals stretching across China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, fans are now half-joking that Prada has become a jinx factory – some even claiming the brand profits from breach-of-contract fines when things go south.
Behind the humour, though, is a serious conversation about celebrity endorsements.
As one fashion insider put it, “If the brand’s identity doesn’t align with the ambassador’s private life, it’s a time bomb.” And at this rate, Prada’s detonating quite a few.
So, is the Prada Curse real? A coincidence? Or just a case of poor PR planning?
Whatever it is, it’s definitely not the kind of “runway drama” the brand had in mind.