The 2010s: Prada, Of Course!

December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Believe it or not – I can’t! – but we’re heading towards a new millenium. So, how do you choose the most important collections, designers and labels of the decade? The ones that made an actual impact in the 2010s? Well, it’s not an easy task. It all began in September 2009 with New York’s spring-summer 2010 shows and ended when the autumn-winter 2019 haute couture shows wrapped in Paris. Few thousands of shows, by the way. There will be 19 posts (that’s really the only possible minimum!) reminding about the best – and if not the best, then strongly influencing – moments in fashion.

Prada, Prada, Prada!

Miuccia Prada is certainly one of the most influential fashion designers of our time. Her fashion isn’t just fashion: it’s an on-going dialogue between art, society, culture, and at times even politics. Her Prada woman and man jump from being decadently eccentric to modernly elegant; they can be vagabond, they can be sophisticated, they can be bold in their neon nylons and printed banana shirts (so Jeff Goldblum!). In her 2010s collections, Prada turned her talent to the reivention of a more conventional expression of beauty, striving to modernize embellishment, taking fabrication and surface detail to unprecedented heights, fusing plastic with precious silks, showing cable knit alongside cable knit prints and cable knit embroideries, imagining and then realizing her own spectacular brocades offset by humble cottons borrowed from menswear. Nearly each collection Prada presented in this decade is iconic – and can be recalled by coining separate themes or words (Madame Frankenstein, Japan, pin-up girl, film noir, Margot Tenenbaum, sailors, pastels, stripes, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant…the list goes on!). Noting other successes of Prada in the 2010s – like Fondazione Prada in Milan, re-opening the Linea Rossa line, the non-stop growth of Miu Miu’s allure – I really can’t wait to see how Miuccia shapes her 2020s…

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Chic Remaking and Altering. Miu Miu SS20

October 3, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

After taking a second look, I really liked Miu Miu‘s spring-summer 2020 collection. Miuccia Prada has always said that her impulses for the label are much more spontaneous than at Prada. This was the main idea behind the line-up. “Something raw, simple, naive, not a big deal” was how the designer herself summed up the collection. The idea of altering, remaking, and sex-ifying a wardrobe comes through in off-the-shoulder knitwear and eclectic details. The runways was graced by girls who seemed to have altered the buttons on their coats; made new summer dresses by patching the top of a satin cocktail dress to a printed curtain; decided to add a flounce to a skirt or a shoulder strap with a bit of spare fabric; painted the flowers on their leather coats themselves. The vintage-y and D.I.Y. style is big this season, and Miuccia nails it effortlessly.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Calm Elegance. Prada SS20

September 19, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

No prints. No logos. Calm elegance. That’s the Prada I truly love. It’s been a while since Miuccia Prada did a collection that wasn’t focused on a motif, a fabric or a theme. Cotton tiered dresses worn with espadrilles, smooth leather suits, vintage-looking details (like 30s-inspired feather embroideries and sea-shell necklaces), soft knitted polos, a classic, black dress that isn’t too sheer or too goth… Every look involved a mix of textures (macramé, straw, velvet, calf, patent, rope, paillettes and others) and context (the beach, the office, a party, a weekend escape – you name it). Miuccia’s starting point for this collection was that “the person should be more important than the clothes,” and further, that “personal style is more important than clothes.” She was also hoping to make a point about simplicity, non-disposability, and “doing less.” After all, sustainability is also about investing in pieces you will wear for years. This is a delightful start of Milan fashion week.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

The Look – Prada SS08

July 11, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fairies in the lavender fields… or maybe it’s Sasha Pivovarova and Lara Stone in Prada‘s spring-summer 2008 looks, covered in the memorable, fairy-tale prints by James Jean?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Pastels, Shorts, Youth. Prada SS20

June 11, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

After Chloé’s resort 2020, Prada was another brand presenting its new collection in Shanghai – spring-summer for men, specifically. Over a blue-lit runway at the Minsheng Art Wharf, a parade of short shorts, nylon jackets in pastel pink, tank-tops that could pull off as baby doll dresses and printed jackets took place. This wasn’t a demanding Prada collection. Quite the opposite – this rather felt like the most commercial, menswear outing from Miuccia Prada for years, with a young client as the main target. Other than the khaki shorts that are much in need right now due to the summer heat, the only strong point of the collection was the black & white tailoring.