Prada is not for everyone.
It’s a bit weird. Sometimes ladylike retro, other times sharply modern, minimal and severe. Some things are garish, heavy handed, challenging to put it mildly. There’s the psychedelic, Sherpa inspired collection of A/W 2017 that comes to mind, some pretty peculiar mystical covet-cum-sailor influences in 2016, itchy mutton-leg-warmers with chunky heels to contemplate, and ample heavy brocade iterations along the years that literally made you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders - intentionally no doubt, because Miuccia is nothing if not political.
You wouldn’t be remiss if some of her collections felt a bit like an exorcism, an exercise to expel convoluted, fangled concepts and ideas off her chest and onto the runway. Like deviant gremlins, they have changed the register of fashion, permeating good/bad taste into our subconscious, tempered over time for our sensibilities to catch up. Prada’s idiosyncratic aesthetic and influence penetrates, like a sticky, strange erotic wet dream you can’t shake off. How else would we be able to synthesize au courant weird-ass fashion darlings like Vaquera, Eckaus Latta, Magliano, Francesco Risso (Marni’s new creative director whose work feels more influenced by off kilter Prada than Consuelo’s oeuvre) - if it wasn’t for Miuccia laying down the foundation of jolie laide so deftly?
She also has a knack for making transparency appear conservative, granny dressing refreshingly modern, and dowdy midi’s subversively sexy in one fell, complex scoop. You don’t know if you want to fuck the Prada woman or give her a seat on the subway.
Miuccia has famously said that her job is silly, but necessary. The woman has a PhD in political science, holds impossible conversations in her head, has the temper of a demon, and revels in the strange, obscure and unexpected. And yet, when you see Mrs Prada take a bow at the end of each show in her signature quirky, matronly style, she seems like such a nice lady.
Here’s 5 Good Things (there are many more, these are my personal faves) of “Miuccia Magic”, and why we will never, ever, be truly ready for what she has in store.
01> UGLY AS INTERESTING
If you think you are immune to jolie laide, best take a look at your shoes right now and think again. Those Frankenstein’s Bride platform sandals you, me and everyone you know is wearing - thats some pretty damming shit right there. And that’s just the commercial stuff.
Miuccia has taken what is conventionally pretty, doused it in intellect, culture, spice and things not so nice, emulsified it in a blender, simmered off in a sous vide and served up with just a hint of lime. Prada. It’s got friction, a dark personality, wicked humor, more bite and suggestive sensuality than a perky blonde in a tube top. No shade to tube tops.
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02> WORKING AGAINST WHAT YOU LIKE
Miuccia insists that she gets most inspired working against what she hates, subverting, manipulating and deconstructing it until she finds a way to like it. Seeing matters from a different angle, perceiving a way to work with, rather than against things - tangible or intangible, seems like sage advice for life in general. You don’t have to understand the fashion to appreciate the intent behind it, nor like everything you do in order to do it well. If I ever show up for brunch looking like a tax attorney, now you’ll know why.
03> LOOKING SMART IN A BRA + CARDIGAN
For all the frump that a Prada playbook entails, don’t discount the permission entailed from donning a slip dress, pencil skirt + bra combo, and still coming out looking smart. Intellectual chic, with a smidge of sexual subtext so utterly confusing, it can’t be counter-argued.
Added bonus. Casually throw in ‘recalcitrant’ in a sentence while adjusting your cardigan over that wisp of a bra and watch them get really stumped.
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Conversely, there is something to be said for looking attractive dressed in something akin to what a nun or a golfer would wear, all buttoned up with a hefty brogue (the footwear equivalent to a chastity belt) that makes it all the more subversive.
04> AGELESS APPEAL
“I wake up not knowing if I feel like a 15 year old or an old lady” - Miuccia Prada
Aging sucks, but the Grande Dame of Prada makes it dignified with the artful, acquired taste of Milanese aristocracy. As someone who personally suffers from age dysmorphia (read about it here), a focus on style over age, or whatever bullshit you want to convince yourself of, seemingly works within the Prada wireframe.
You’ve got your frumpsters, hipsters, matrons, madams and mademoiselles advocating youthful maturity or is it ageless infancy? No matter, all these fashion oxymorons don’t actually mean anything anyway. At the end of the day, we’re all aging and Prada’s clothes just make me feel and hopefully, look better. Whether its in disheveled pearls and a midi, mini or a bared midriff, its an insider nod to defining personal style. Which is sexy as hell, irrespective of your age bracket.
05> CINEMATIC SUMMER
One doesn’t often associate Prada with a carefree summer schematic, but her summer’s are the best. S/S 2001 in particular, is a subdued, hazy cinematic tribute that calms the nervous system. It’s swimsuits and heels. Pale, perfect skin. Sun tanning in suits, lounging in luxury. Practicality, never was and never will be a prequel for desire; so just sip the aperol, slip on your sling-backs over your cashmere clad feet, and bask in the brilliance of an imagination more brilliant than your own.
Watch the full show here. And please don’t tell me you’re not thinking of going poolside in heels and a cardigan this summer? Don’t deny it, I know you’re lying.
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Below are a few more of my fave Prada items that I can’t buy, but you totally should. Or else I will. But I really shouldn’t. You see where this is going.
5 MORE PRADA PIECES
This sheer heart-print skirt from S/S 2000. How is this still online?
The flower print pencil skirt from S/S 2001 (pictured in the campaign above). The exact same one. Kill me now, I’m getting if you don’t.
This shirt + skirt combo from the S/S 2011. Don’t be cheap, buy them and wear them together.
Remember the S/S 2004 campaigns featuring Daria Werbowy in those blurred tie-dyed ensembles. Yes. Here is that jacket from that collection.
Ok, I can’t trace this dress back to a specific season, but who cares. It’s leopard print in classic A-line shape and timeless. I’m stopping here because the restraint of not “clicking” is killing me.
Stay sexy,
L.