After a men’s show that was black as black, Prada went pastel for Fall. “Sweet, but violent” said Miuccia Prada. Her fall collection was an uncomplicated, charming distillation of essence of Prada, a rebooted regrouping around the synthetics, sickly sweet color, tweedy Italian traditionalism, and the plastic, sparkly embellishments she’s loved since she began in the eighties. “Softer pop” was a big theme this time, a riff on the color palette. But “variation on beauty” was a reflection on the flatness of presentation that we see at the Prada show 4 days ago. The relationship between the real and the fake.
With Prada, simplicity is relative. Here, her vision of prettiness fused retro shapes with technical foam jersey for a twinge of past-future dissonance. Muccia Prada may be thinking blossom for fall, the collection presented a colorful selection of suits, the fabric ranging from neoprene to tweed, the details are all that matters. Some of the most appealing items in the collection were cut from ostrich: skin dyed emerald green for a jumper-dress and a red A-line skirt. Prada also reinvented baby doll dresses with fine appliqués and a selection of fabrics, leather, tweed or neoprene. But what first made her famous, in other words was Prada all time favorites; opera gloves, brooches and kitten heels presented in a youthful way.
The success of it, though, lies in the accessibility of this collection. There’s a generation of women who will smile at the nineties memories provoked by this show, and there’s a new generation who won’t read the nostalgic cues, and yet still jump at the wearability of the clothes. As we know Miuccia’s candy-colored fall ’15 was dialling back through time, simple enough — almost, but in trippy way. (Text Teuku Ajie)