Women’s Highlight Prada S/S 2021
The first Prada show of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons
September 24, 2020
It’s the third week of the virtual fashion season and the amount of reminders we have had in our inboxes to watch a live stream or special video is way past one hundred. But today at 2pm Milan time it was worth it to watch the design dialogue debut of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.
Prada elevated Simons for the first time when she handed him Jil Sander in 2005 and she is doing it again by now co-designing her Prada label with him. After Simons American misunderstanding at Calvin Klein this was a perfect opportunity for him to resurface on the international designer A list. And? It worked, in fact, it was a jewel of a collection marrying his last Jil Sander women’s show attitude, his Raf Simons street riot show graphics and Prada’s classic skirt and sweater silhouette and nylon.
The collection featured Prada’s classic skirt and sweater silhouette.
The couture factor?
Models holding onto their coat collars instead of a clasp gave an ultra feminine allure which Simons used in his last Jil Sander show and is a pose which can often be seen in 1950 and 1960 photographs of Richard Avedon or Irving Penn shooting Haute Couture. Miss Prada would probably wince at this kind of attitude but here it paid off.
Models holding onto their coats were a reference to Haute Couture poses.
What we like?
The clean graphic design on jewel colored silks and satins or photo collages printed on tops showed Simons penchant for printing slogans on garments, ultimately a street style move. The combination of this graphisme with floral jacquards made for ultra-feminine clothes which were deftly tempered by the cool casting and setting.
Mixing street style elements like prints with satin and ultra-feminine elements.
The set?
Dozens of video monitors installed on the ceiling of the show venue which had a giant yellow curtain backdrop and a vocals electronic soundtrack made for a hyper-modern feeling, a Prada standard. The monitors spelled out the names of the models, a trick Miss Prada has been using for a while.
Monitors in the set showed the names of the models.
The talk?
It’s clear that this collection bears the name Prada so Miss Prada made the opening remarks and was clearly the host. Hearing her charming Italian-accent English is always a delight. Raf Simons surprised with a new-slicked longhair look and made his role clear by thanking Miss Prada again for the past Jil Sander job which set him up in women’s wear to begin with.
