The Guardian – 21 septembre 2018<\/p>\n
The influential house\u2019s Milan fashion week show was heady blend of conservatism and liberalism<\/p>\n
Morwenna Ferrier<\/p>\n
The hype surrounding a Prada show is second to none, partly because it\u2019s impossible to predict what will happen. And yet the label remains so influential that deciphering what could happen, and what the clothes say about the here and now, has become something of a ritual.<\/p>\n
No one expected it to be about fear, though. \u201cI struggle to see that the world is becoming conservative. And I\u2019m very afraid,\u201d were the ominous last words of Miuccia Prada, the label\u2019s head designer, speaking after the show. If even Prada fears conservatism, then what hope is there for fashion?<\/p>\n
The show began with elements borrowed from the menswear collection in June. We sat on the same blow-up square seating, and the first few models also wore shorts, although here they went down to the knee (the men\u2019s were micro length) and came in dirty jewel tones of duchesse satin.<\/p>\n
Then \u201cthe clash between two opposites\u201d, as she put it, went into full swing. Mixing masculine and feminine is a de facto Prada move, but this season that went out of the window. Any conflict was internalised by women and women alone.<\/p>\n
If conservatism was one theme in Thursday night\u2019s show in Milan, it was played off against another, rooted in \u201cfantasy, freedom and liberation\u201d said the designer. On the catwalk that meant we saw two Prada women. One was prim and ready for mass, with girls in collars and cashmere jumpers in various shades of black and grey. Black trapeze dresses were voluminous and heavy. Peacoats were buttoned up to the neck. And then there was the liberated Prada woman in extreme colour, fluoros and tie-dye. Tennis skirts fluttered in bright pink. Mustard was paired with lime green. The colour schemes were brazen and reassuringly awkward.<\/p>\n
If her intention was to \u201cbreak down\u201d the divide, Prada did this by messing with the order. Instead of the two looks flowing into one another, one interrupted the other, a moment helpfully demarcated by the music, which jumped from grindcore to Jane Birkin and back again.<\/p>\n
Like the menswear show, sexiness was a theme of sorts. A pair of white bloomers peeked cheekily through a white gauzy dress, and a handful of models wore swimsuits slashed navel deep as tops, but sex was the last thing on anyone\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
The undulating fortune of Prada is a hot topic in fashion. In past years, it has lost ground to both new and old rivals in an industry dominated by cash-rich conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering. Revenues in the first six months of the year were up 9.4% at constant exchange rates year-on-year but there are still concerns. Prada has two gameplans. One is to extend use of the Rem Koolhaas-designed Prada foundation to other artists such as Spike Lee and Sofia Coppola (both were in attendance) and the other involves the merch \u2013 or gateway drugs \u2013 those affordable tidbits that get you hooked on a brand and have sent Gucci well into the billions. Here that meant wrinkled pop socks with a black or silver logo on almost every model, and a padded headband reminiscent of Tudor times worn by almost every model. And the famous Prada nylon handbags on which she had collaborated with a group of female architects.<\/p>\n
There were still questions \u2013 were some colourful loafers a pop at Gucci? Were the golden headbands a comment on the halo effect of selling accessories? Who knows.<\/p>\n
If Prada tends to handle femininity with a certain level of irony and wit, then here she gave it a sense of foreboding. Gender didn\u2019t seem to be relevant but female identity was.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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