Prada

Questioning femininity and what that really means today was the bottom-line for this Prada collection which sounds good, right? Immediately, archetypes of feminine beauty come to mind, but not at a Prada show of course. The hair was messy, the seams raw, the folds un-ironed. All very house-coded and on track. But let’s start at the beginning: Opening black dresses, handbags dangling from the right hand, classic Prada pumps, we loved. We saw a lot of the men’s design elements carried over into the women’s collection, which is not a new thing, i.e., the fur collars. They were kept somewhat simple and flat like on a grey coat with a voluminous version that stacked around the neck. The dangling embellishments on knitwear were taken up a notch as well. Admittedly Simons is making himself more and more visible with each Prada collection now even the women’s. The sought-after Prada-isms are very much in the picture in floral prints, the tinted too dark eyebrows, the disheveled hair, the experimental styling, and the intelligent edge, maybe they are just starting to feel less familiar.

MM6

Now that was fun! Granted, we had a good seat that made the models walk exclusively for our eyes and lens (see below). But the clothing just fits right, more than in one sense of the word. It fits our times by simply being engineered and perfected to build a wardrobe which does not consist of four trench coats, but only maybe of one. Less is more. The color palette was kept very simple in muted tones with a few turquoise and red exceptions just undermining the capsule approach and claim for everyday wear. Putting the same sunglasses on every single model was not necessary, but we get it, it is Margiela.