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Properly Posh Prada
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
MILAN, Mar 3, 2003 /FWD/ --- Miuccia Prada may frequently be chastised for preferring the
dowdy to the dashing, but the rather dashing collection she showed Friday in Milan showed
the designer at the height of her audacious powers.
A keen Communist in her youth, even of the bourgeois Italian variant, Miuccia sent out a
collection that few workers could even afford – topped off by model Natalia Vodianova, a
Soviet-era baby, who exited in an astrakhan skirt, cashmere mohair sweater and lizard coat.
As Grace Jones growled androgynous funk out of the speakers, Miuccia opened with some His
Girl Friday looks, on their way to work in a Chelsea gallery or Brera design studio.
Prada girls for fall prefer plaid jackets cut with low ‘50s necklines, updated argyle
sweaters and English racing tweed hats.
When it’s chilly, Miuccia’s Lois Lane dons exceptional lizard and mink coats, when she
enjoys a drink on a weekend break she wears arty silk dresses, un-ironed as if just taken
from travel bag.
Their naive prints echoed the Chinese colors in the newly re-installed Prada Broadway
boutique, elements of which covered the walls in Prada’s via Fogazzaro showspace.
Prada’s bread and butter have always been its accessories, which this season were pretty
exceptional.
Ranging from elegant gloves of glazed green lizard and pigskin, to narrow reptile belts
they all looked great.
A series of classic Prada nylon and crocodile bags in caramel and black were given new life
with equestrian handles, some with small bits.
And the shoes were something else – five-inch-heeled squared court shoes in plaid,
patent leather and lizard that will influence shoe lines on every continent.
But Miuccia kept her best ideas for her truly beautiful finale of crepe, silk and wool
dresses, multi-pleated and with contrasting backs, given a rare pizzazz with ruched and
buttoned fabric colliers.
They sang style, class and creativity in every look.
Dowdy? Make that dangerously dapper.
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