Fragments of beauty. The need for kindness. The history of women. An obsession with the current film “Zone of Interest” about domestic life happening happily in the literal shadow of the horrors of war.
They were all mentioned by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons in the backstage scrum after the fall 2024 women's show.
If they sounded a bit like military code talkers, it was at least appropriate for this collection, which combined sombre tailoring, sometimes with a 1940s war feel, with the beauty of silk lingerie, bustles on the back and silk ties, often in a single garment that was different from front to back.
Skirts in suit fabrics cut into strict shapes, some trouser skirts literally wrinkled and folded like a giant trouser leg, were wonderful to see with the backs replaced by pastel silk slips and with colorful bows or bustles over the backs. rears.
Immaculate in their construction, but difficult to wear for anyone but the fiercest fashion fans, they still captured two of the season's biggest emerging trends – power tailoring and lingerie looks – and interestingly hinted at the idea of clothes as a facade. . Coats and blazers with silk backs, as if cut from a men's suit vest, seemed simpler, and what a clever way to lighten outerwear in times of climate change.
This was Prada back in lady mode with 60s dresses decorated with little bows and trimmed at the collars or hems with faux fur; combinations with ingenious flocking and fringe effects; sweaters dripping with crystals; prim twin sets and pointed-toe pumps (but with comfy-looking block heels). The color combinations were as inspiring as ever: ultraviolet with red, teal with emerald. And milliners should rejoice in swirling velvet hats and brightly colored officer's caps.
Then, just to add something even more unexpected (and also commercial), out came P13 (for Prada, established in 1913), technical-looking varsity jackets and outerwear with feminine shapes, nylon pencil skirts and shift dresses with slouchy front pockets.
“Sometimes what we love are instinctive, absurd things,” Simons said, explaining the high-design nylon pieces. “Going skiing in cocktail dresses is not so obvious,” she said.
Isn't it that obvious either? Handbags cuffed up to the crook of your elbow, instead of carrying them inside like your grandmother did.
“When you take pieces of history, how do you do them in a way that doesn't become nostalgic?” Simons said. “Our goal is to be modern, something that feels fresh and new.”
“Nostalgia is not the point,” Prada repeated, also mentioning the collection in the context of feminism, which is at the root of her lifelong vision as a designer to recontextualize and redefine feminine tropes. “You look at history a lot to learn something. “It was some intellectual who said that removing a piece of the past is separating it from its cage.”
Spoken like a free woman.
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