As one of the world's most creative designers, Miuccia Prada always demands fashion attention, so we're taking a quick break from our continued look at the best of fall from the runways of New York to offer this report from the Prada runway show, held today in Milan.
Miuccia Prada told the New York Times that the collection was about "raw elegance" but it looks to us like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, with moody shadows, spinning ceiling fans and a silhouette of a cat — with moving tail — on the wall.
The clothes had a film noir attitude, too, with dresses and suits cinched at the waist and a slightly askew attitude.
A press release from AMO, a research studio affiliated with architect Rem Koolhaas that designed the Prada set, explained it this way:
"As an inversion of the traditional catwalk configuration, AMO conceives a set built around the perimeter of the audience, which is seated on an irregularly shaped central island. The audience faces a 'reclaimed space:' a vaguely industrial yet semi-abandoned environment, populated by few manifestations of domestic everyday life. Models weave through this set, exploring and re-inhabiting an undefined large interior.
"A continuous series of images is projected on the walls; they combine idyllic settings and industrial devices into a mysterious and abstract panorama, expanding the show space into a post-romantic imagery."
As for the clothes, they had the attitude of a heroine in a Hitchcock movie.
Uneven hemlines and a disheveled appearance were a hallmark of the collection.
Oversized plaid bags and buckle shoes are sure to become a fall must-have fashion item. Embellished coats and pencil skirts evoke a romantic, yet slightly dark, urban elegance.
The Telegraph in London concluded that the show was about fading beauty. "The models sported wet-look hair and seemed deliberately too young for their grown up outfits. 'I wanted things to look a bit destroyed, so they don't look too expensive,' Prada said."
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Prada mixed contemporary fabrics with more traditional looks. There was not a single pair of trousers in the collection.
Suited for action — or a quick getaway?
Prada mixed a vintage look with contemporary styles in a blue gingham coat with furry gauntlets over a more modern skirt-and-blouse combo.
A model in fur and gold skirt looks to be playing dress-up in Prada's much buzzed-about show.
