By Chloe Welling
Each season, fashion turns its gaze towards Prada, the gravitational centre around which much of Milan continues to orbit. Last season proved a study in attenuated silhouettes, before that, men’s bloomers.
While the propositions may change, the compelling throughline remains to be Prada’s interrogation of the present. Together, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons hold a mirror up to who we are, illuminating our blind spots and occasionally suggesting where we might be headed.
This year’s proposal was predicated on jeans, with Mrs Prada and Simons endeavouring to rematerialise the most simple of garments into a framework for endless creativity–and challenge our definition of luxury in the process.
Set atop a grid of halogen lighting, the show placed guests on perspex benches, each illuminated by its own fluorescent bulb. The cumulative effect was one of total exposure. Light emanated from beneath, above and beyond, creating a space in which concealment felt near impossible. However, the levels of clarity and precision on display meant that this was not a collection that needed to seek refuge in obscurity.
“[This collection] was much more difficult and complicated than doing an embroidered evening dress,” said Mrs Prada, referring to the technical materials, heat sealing and intricate printing techniques employed throughout. This complexity, however, was ultimately presented as fundamental simplicity.
The result was a svelte, highly-controlled silhouette, accentuated by dramatically shrunken proportions. Nearly every piece in the collection was cropped in some capacity, with trousers finishing two inches above the ankle, jackets ending high on the hip bone and sleeves stopping short of the wrist. It was a look reminiscent of a lanky teenager caught in a body still in flux. Albeit, in the hands of Mrs Prada and Simons, any sense of the awkwardness or uncertainty that accompanies youth is transformed into an intense sense of clarity.
For all its freshness, the collection also felt like a continuation of a conversation that began last season–the slimline silhouette returning, as did fabrics with a deliberately dirtied appearance. The collection also saw Prada continue its exploration of low-profile footwear. Styles somewhat recalled cycling shoes, albeit reinterpreted with a tougher, more subcultural attitude.
The show’s emphasis on illumination extended beyond the set itself, with sheer jackets and trousers highlighting the internal architecture of their construction. For a collection concerned with reduction, this willingness to reveal translated as a logical, natural progression.
Among the most compelling pieces were the dual waist trousers. Cut using a traditional five-pocket pattern, they incorporated a secondary waistline that suggested bloomers emerging from beneath, complete with suspender clips aside. Elsewhere, small details like the steel eyelets arranged in the silhouette of the Prada triangle, added a sense of edge.
Alongside these newer propositions were plenty of familiar Prada-isms. V-neck sweaters were present, this time plunging low to the navel, as were geometric mid-century patterns and off-beat acidic greens and cerulean.
After the show, Mrs Prada spoke to the tension between the timeless and timely nature of this collection. “Fashion is what you think is right to wear at that moment,” she observed. “And I think that in this sense this is a very fashionable show.”
The casting, meanwhile, reflected the increasingly porous boundaries of modern dress. Both male and female models walked the runway, a move that also acted as testament to universality of the concepts proposed.
Prada is engaging with a moment in which personality is becoming increasingly more influential than trends. Simons spoke to this shift backstage, reflecting on a fashion landscape in which runway imagery no longer necessarily dictates the street. The most interesting ideas, he suggested, emerge when individuals reinterpret garments for themselves rather than simply adopting a designer’s vision wholesale. In this sense, the radical simplicity of the collection leaves room for individuality to blossom.
Seen through this lens, this collection reframes refusal as a positive act. Through confiscation, Mrs Prada and Simons have only intensified attention.