To stay leaders in the world of fashion, the great designers always reflect on the times we live in through their collections, a channeling of Zeitgeist which is mandatory to stay relevant. Nobody understands this better than Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. With their latest men’s show they cemented the status of real clothes for their fashion universe. In fact, much has been said about office attire since the pandemic. And yes, luxury knit sweatpants made it onto the runway here. But their terrific collection went much further adding cool outerwear from trench coats to doorman hats to their smart musing on how men that work should dress.

As the invitation indicated they are in support of the return of the tie as in their first look. To twist the office idea, they created a set which ushered the audience straight into nature and a visible forest floor to create the dichotomy which has somewhat become a signature since Raf joined Miuccia. It gives the show this elevated appearance, this moment of tension of what is to come, this intellectual bent which comes from something like moss behind glass which you cannot touch. Miss Prada remarked after the show that she finds untouchable nature scary. That’s the point here, emotion is created throughout the show experience including a cool techno soundtrack.

The distinguishing quality of their work is the furious attention to detail where familiar garments are reworked and looked at over and over like the boxy two button and three button suits or trench coats which appeared different through their lightweight column look where one of them was closed with a zipper instead of buttons to change the structure.