A huge part of Prada’s appeal is never knowing what to expect.
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If you had based what was coming on the brown cardboard invitation with purple reverse, or the industrial concrete set with cage surround and glass floor, one would have expected something raw and gritty. What followed was quite the reverse.
Bright orange, green and purple jumped to life against the stark backdrop. A banana print, a monkey illustration in a baroque frame and colour-block stripes provided the base colours to v-neck dresses, swing jackets with dropped, rounded shoulders and either straight pencil skirts or those with a flamenco kick hem. There were no trousers - Miuccia is staking a claim on spring summer being the season of the skirt – and every style hit just below the knee.
Sombreros suggested a Mexican influence, a print showing a woman carrying pineapples on her head nodded to Caribbean, the cartoonish fruit hinted at Carmen Miranda but there probably wasn’t any one influence. Instead a visionary collection from fashion’s free-thinker.
