Looking at Prada’s new collection, one image came straight to mind: the land of women in skirts. Different women, different skirts, different ways of being feminine. And maybe that’s what struck me most about Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ collection.
For quite some time, I had the impression that in their work together femininity had been cooled down, at times almost played down, leaving plenty of room for research, for concept, and for that intellectual provocation that belongs so deeply to Prada. This time, though, I have to change my mind. Women are back at the center, and they return through a garment that seemed to have almost lost its place: the skirt.
They’re everywhere. Long, short, straight, full, sheer, embroidered, pleated, with deep slits, light or structured. It’s like truly stepping into this imaginary land of women in skirts, where there is no single way of being a woman. That’s where the collection gets interesting, because Prada doesn’t bring back the skirt to take us backward, nor to offer a predictable femininity. It uses the skirt to tell the stories of different women.
I also like the way the boyfriend element enters this universe, that masculine touch that deliberately interrupts the narrative: a looser shirt, a jacket, a proportion almost borrowed from his wardrobe. The result doesn’t cool the woman down. Quite the opposite. The contrast makes the skirt stand out even more, and with it the body, the movement, the sensuality.
Slits, sheer fabrics, and embroidery do the rest, without turning everything into a loud statement. The body appears, disappears, is left to be glimpsed. There is sensuality, but it doesn’t need to prove itself at every turn. And this may be where this collection convinces me more than others I’ve seen in recent years.
Of course, it’s still Prada, with its very own way of putting together things that seemingly shouldn’t go together. Colors, materials, proportions, deliberately odd details. Miuccia Prada has always had this talent: slipping in something that disturbs just when everything risks becoming too beautiful, too perfect, too predictable. Raf Simons brings his own vision into this language, and the result remains instantly recognizable.
But this time, walking through this land of women in skirts, I had a different feeling. I saw less distance and more body, less coldness and more femininity. Without nostalgia, and above all without going back to an outdated idea of women.
Perhaps this was exactly the shift I’d been waiting for from Prada.
The skirt is back. But above all, the woman who wears it is back.
