Miu Miu Fall 2003 Milan Womenswear Show

On Friday, her Prada collection easily proved to be the most inventive show in Milan, and Tuesday she presented a rather brilliant one for Miu Miu that was audacious and subversive of both forms and norms.

Her invitations gave a big hint to where Miuccia wanted to take Miu Miu this season -- handkerchiefs bearing naughty vignettes from the great, ribald French cartoonist Peynet. The one sitting beside this laptop showed two old ladies complaining about people taking up too many seats in a park, while another image showed a naked young woman who had deposited all her clothes over a series of chairs.

Miuccia told FWD that a cartoon of a recently married couple inspired her. "The cartoon was romantic but in the end the idea was perverse. The couple looked almost guilty. Marriage turned out to be insidious," she said.

While Prada was an investigation into using men's fabrics and shapes to make great clothes for women, Miu Miu began in the opposite direction with a soundtrack of great David Bowie tracks, where nasal tones of the Thin White Duke sounded more like a man wanting to be a woman.

Her cartoons showed up in sexy, transparent mohair sweaters, silk dresses, cashmere tanks and great T-shirts.

"I always wanted to design T-shirts, but never did because I think you need a really strong idea to make them work. Well, I finally found one!" smiled Miuccia.

The footwear - Chelsea boots, elongated wingtips and tasseled loafers in black, burgundy or battered silver - were all drawn from men's wear.

Much of the components in Miu Miu - from Harris tweed to brogues - were very manly, but the net result was a genuinely new take on fashion. Half the looks were made of apparel made from several garments - capes that were also coats, cardigans that were part dickeys, and jackets that were half shawls.

"But they are each one single piece," cautioned Miuccia backstage. Fur appeared in almost one third of the looks as piping, trims, scarves and shawls. But not all of it was new. Miuccia's team even picked up many mink capes and crocodile bags up in flea markets.

"I think everyone is fed up with being a big corporation. I want to own a small shop in our boutique. No more big!" the designer laughed.