In a surprising twist, Miuccia Prada inverted the over arching aesthetics of her two shows this season; after presenting a playful, school girl-inspired Prada collection, Prada went for a more grown up, ladylike Miu Miu collection.
Fall 2011 at Prada’s contemporary sister line was in fact rife with 40s style dresses, 80s style statement shoulders, and lots of long sleeves, mink accents, and demure, slim cuts. The beauty of the collection, however, was that despite showing a more mature silhouette, the collection had all of the signatures that fans of Prada’s lower priced line love: prints were prevalent in both day and night-wear and came in floral and bird iterations, sharp contrasting collars made for dainty touches, and of course the requisite glitter that has done so well for the brand made its way onto the runway, most notably onto the sculpted open-toe booties.
Speaking of shoes, this season the accessories at Miu Miu wowed. A gorgeous oversized change purse made for a recurring clutch silhouette fashioned out of a variety of lush materials including mink, leather, suede, and satin. The curved, mixed textured shoes and eyewear will also surely be hot sellers next season, and while the mink cummerbunds might be harder to translate into real life, they were a refreshingly original, luxe addition.
As for the clothing, the daywear-focused collection played nicely with proportions mixing slender 40s style, long and mid-sleeve dresses with bold statement shoulders. Menswear-inspired touches made for some looser tops and dresses as well that perhaps, in the designer’s play between youthful and grown-up, tied into the idea of a little girl playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes. Whatever the running inspiration behind the collection, it was a spot on, wholly wearable lineup complete with an all but certain “it” shoe and bag.
Photos: Vincenzo Grillo, IMAXtree.
