This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 19, 2015.

DIRECTOR James Lima has partnered with Italian fashion powerhouse Prada to create a series of videos that celebrate the new Inside bag, where Lima’s surreal, dreamy animated videos inspire a whimsical, handcrafted impressionist design of the bag. His stunning visuals were originally forged in Hollywood where he worked with influential directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron as Visual Effects Director.

Since 2008, Lima has collaborated with Prada several times, producing short films called Trembled Blossoms, Fallen Shadows and Real Fantasies; all of which conjured magical worlds of chromatic and emotive movement. In Prada Inside Me, each animated short starts with a visual invitation made by unzipping a Prada Inside Bag.

The Swimmer shows a soaring modern city submerged by water, where a woman swims carefree amongst fish and coral on the new urban seabed. A Kind of Light is also set in the downtown streets of a similar skyscraper city, where pools of rainwater reflect the endless grids, and another woman strides assuredly on the sidewalk, protected by a mysterious glow that’s around her and also inside her. A Space Between sees a sunglass-adorned woman literally push away an imposing skyscraper that’s too close to her just so she can uncover a vast, open landscape.

In A Curious Stranger, a woman comes across a stray deer in the middle of a bustling, windy city. They exchange knowing glances, and a bond is made. A similar surreal encounter occurs in On the Beach, where a visitor from outer space stands face to face with a woman and the crashing sea. And, lastly, in The Dreamer, these various enchanting stories are revisited as analogue holograms summoned in a personal notebook, ending with a narrative twist.

First presented at the autumn/winter 2015 Women’s fashion show, the Prada Inside Bag is an instant iconic design where one bag is snugly tucked within another. Playful, seductive, it beautifully combines rich traditions with daring originality.

These animated shorts by Lima can be viewed on Prada’s social network platforms as well as on www.prada.com.