Nobody comes to Milan fashion week for their “useful clothes”. Yet this was the verdict of director Luca Guadagnino, who sat front row at Sunday’s menswear show: “Useful, yes, wearable, yes, all those things. Everyone can use this.”
Price tags aside, his point was this: As with previous collections, Prada took things you might already own—a white ribbed vest, a backpack—and turned them into must-have pieces. They did the same with trench coats, donkey jackets, black office brogues and navy blue parkas. Sometimes fashion holds up a mirror to what’s going on in the world, but sometimes it reminds us of what we already own.
“The most honest thing we can do is create something useful for people today,” Miuccia Prada said of the show. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
“The most honest thing we can do is create something useful for people today,” designer Miuccia Prada said of the fall/winter 2023 show she co-designed with Raf Simons, who joined in 2020. “We always talk about reality. , and we, as designers, are very aware of what is happening, of the problems, of the difficulties”.
An A4 size bag made from the kind of aluminum floor you might see at the bottom of a lido might not seem very useful, but these did carry water bottles. A stylish bag isn’t just for a Moleskin laptop, smartphone and notebook, it’s also there to carry your lunch.
With all the crashing front rows and megawatt glamour, fashion week can be a jarring experience. It’s also not unusual for designers to be fascinated by ordinary wardrobes, picking out the most interesting pieces and trying to sell them to us at a high price. This is, after all, late capitalism. But even if you can’t afford these things, you can still get Prada style by raiding a thrift store, Milan’s Navigli market, or your teen’s wardrobe.
Between the jackets, there were also enough crazy moments to satisfy true Prada fans. Glossy white spherical coats that looked like duvets without the cover; unpredictable color combinations (blue and brown) and, in a little U-twist on her usual anti-sexy stance, even some bare-chested. The five suede tunics layered over skinny pants may take a while to move onto the high street, but they were among Guadagnino’s marginally less “useful” favourites.
A model presents a creation based on a Prada duffle coat design. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
As any major designer knows, it can be difficult to juggle a brand’s business requirements with making the things you want. Prada did not earn 3.3 billion euros (£2.9 billion) in sales in 2021, nor did it become the world’s second most popular brand according to Lyst, the global fashion aggregator, by doing things that were not desirable.
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Adam DiMarco, best known for playing Albie on White Lotus, agreed. “I am Italian, so I always knew what Prada was. But no, I didn’t grow up with it, I’m just trying to grow up,” he told The Guardian. “I’m still just a fanboy.”
A model presents a creation by Prada, which had 3.3 billion euros (£2.9 billion) in sales in 2021. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
Source: news.google.com