The fashion show off the runway always rivals that on it at the Miu Miu show, where somewhat famous celebrities, influencers and genuine fans seem to engage in Miu Miu cosplay.
On Tuesday afternoon, the front row had a cowgirl in a bathing suit, many schoolgirl-types in pleated skirts, knee socks and loafers, and a baby bombshell searching for her seat wearing little else but the baby bloomers and knee socks from the spring collection.
“It puts me in touch with my inner child,” was how one VIP put it when asked why she likes the brand. And that’s why Miu Miu has the youth vote.
This season, Miuccia Prada added another archetype to her repertoire, a throwback lady, complete with beauty shop hair, brooches and bullet bras, which shaped the bustline under tight sweaters. Yes, bullet bras, the relic of the 1950s that exaggerated the bust and the hourglass figure, resurrected in the 1980s by Madonna, Jean Paul Gaultier and others.
Some may question why we’d want to go back there in a political climate that has women’s rights under threat, but there has been recent next-gen interest in more ladylike vintage clothing, including knee-length skirts, skirt suits and clip-on earrings, to say nothing of the tradwife trend. One designer I interviewed this week threw up her hands and said, “All my kids wear is vintage.” So there.
And judging from the success of Miu Miu’s “It” accessories from recent collections — including the micro mini schoolgirl skirt, the tube top, the open-toed socks and distressed moccasins that have helped propel the brand’s astounding financial growth — those bras are going to sell like gangbusters and be all over the front row next season.
“We need femininity in this difficult time to lift us up,” Prada said backstage, likening the environment to wartime, with a wink perhaps to Dior’s New Look.
The show did make a modern statement in how it broadly defined femininity, freed from gender, with a cast from across the spectrum, and a few familiar faces like Gigi Hadid and Sarah Paulson.
The set was pared back to citron moire walls and the soundtrack unapologetically “elevator music,” Prada said. To that, her throwback ladies walked out in mannish wool coats that were intentionally a bit off, cut to fit the curves with pointed folds at the bust, or with swan tail hems, carrying handbags in the crooks of their arms.
Satin lingerie dresses with straps sliding off the shoulders, prim suits, tight sweaters and pencil skirts, fur stoles with pockets to tuck the hands into and high-heels worn with knee socks came out in Prada’s famous pretty-ugly color combos of mustard, ultraviolet, apricot, acid green, powder pink and camel.
She also brought in some familiar pieces from the recent Miu Miu playbook, like great looking aged leather jackets, sport-inspired pullovers with zippers cocked to the side, and really covetable tracksuits, worn with arms-full of gold bracelets. Also in the accessories department were cloche hats, new buckled sneakers and cute new socks covered in scattered crystals.
It was a vibe, a vintage one, yes, but that’s what the kids are wearing. So why not give them something new that looks like it?
