Prada Fall 2015 show. Always a highlight on the international show circuit, Prada is often seen as the collection that sets the tone for the season ahead.
Where: The home of Prada on the suburban outskirts of central Milan on the nondescript street of via Antonio Fogazzaro.
Who: Milling about outside waiting to get into the venue were the usual Italian street style suspects like Anna dello Russo and Giovanna Battaglia. Other notable guests trying to huddle from the cold included British Vogue fashion director Lucinda Chambers, contributing Vogue editor Lynn Yaeger, W magazine fashion director Edward Enninful, senior vice-president of Bergdorf Goodman, Linda Fargo and girl about town Alexa Chung.
Music:Orchestral but eerie. Music from Walt Disney's Fantasia reinforced an almost demented feel to the mostly pastel collection.
The Set: Pink and green salons with metallic floors and ceilings designed by Rem Koolhaas and OMA/AMO. Miuccia Prada and Rem Koolhaas have a longstanding relationship, collaborating on exhibitions, shop fit-outs and and various runway shows.
The Collection: Playful. Known for breaking its own rules, Prada surprised yet again this season with a collection of sorbet tones that had a slight 50s/60s sci-fi bent. Erring more towards Prada's obsession with artificial ideas of synthetic beauty and hyper-femininity, several pieces had a cartoon feel to them, from stiff baby doll and A-line dresses made from a double-faced jersey fabric to shrunken pastel suiting. Accessories were abundant including leather opera gloves, oversized perspex floral brooches, bejewelled barrettes for the hair and colourful leather handbags that accompanied every look. That mid-century mood continued in the saccharine debutante-style dresses skimming above the knees, embellished with ribbon and jewel detailing.
Where last season’s crafty/homespun separates had a certain nostalgic romance, this collection had a mid-century modern, clean-cut feel to it that was at once new and fresh in a season that’s still heavily inspired by the kind of vintage found at an Estate sale (case in point, the polarising debut from new Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele shown a few days earlier).
Favourite look: Exit #28. Model newcomer Lineisy Montero was cast perfectly for this show wearing a lime green ostrich leather coat, collared blouse, a pink crocodile skin handbag and satin mary-jane pumps. Finished off with some menacing leather biker gloves in bright blue, it was a subversive take on classic mod dressing.
Hair: Perfectly coiffed side ponytails adorned with jewelled barrettes dreamed up by hair maestro Guido Palau.
Makeup: Fresh-faced princesses from outer-space by Pat McGrath. A soft, red-brown cream shadow blended through the crease was used with pastel pink-orange lipstick pressed into the lips.
Moving Forward: With the announcement of a 1 per cent dip in annual revenue in the financial year ending January 31, particularly in a weaker Chinese market and economic woes in Europe, the brand will open fewer boutiques than planned this year. However, in a statement released last month, Prada chief executive Patrizio Bertelli said the challenging environment wouldn't affect the company's medium and long-term targets this year and beyond.
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Advertise with NZME.A new venue will also open under Prada’s art foundation in collaboration with OMA’s research arm AMO this May. Featuring a bar designed by film director Wes Anderson, the Fondazione Prada will be on a Milanese industrial site at Largo Isarco, south of Milan’s city centre.
