We take a closer look at the A/W15 collection, to see which parts were real and which were fake
For A/W15, Mrs. Prada returned to the question that has fascinated her since the beginning: what does it mean to be a woman? At the Prada show her woman was powdered to perfection and dressed in saccharine pastels. At Miu Miu, she wore a rainbow of hyper-saturated animal prints and python skin dyed in fantastical hues, with a glittering array of costume jewellery. These were two expressions of stereotypical femininity – sickly sweet on one runway, patent sexuality on the other. But, in spite of their parodic conventionality and their extreme fakery, they were still, somehow, deeply desirable.
We take a closer look at the collection to see what we can learn from the garments themselves.
"Genetically modified" python skins
Backstage, Mrs. Prada explained, "I wanted to put things together in a naive way, not caring, always wrong, with that attitude of instinct. It started with the mutation of ostrich in Prada, the genetic modification, the idea of a new species." And there was an abundance of gloriously strange breeds in bright yellows, blues and pinks of the animal skins turned into skirts, coats and thigh-high minidresses.
Mock-crocodile fabrications
Accompanying the real-skins-turned-fake were the actually fake mock-crocodile fabrications. Shining and plasticky, they were worn under leopard-print coats or heavy tweeds accented with snakeskin. The conflation between the authentic and the phony became pronounced as they were layered on top of eachother, skins and plastics given equal stature on the runway.
Plenty of costume jewellery
Sparkling costume jewellery was added to each look. With a soundtrack of Brian Eno and Talking Heads (as well as Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s radio advertisements), it seemed as though Mrs. Prada was referencing the consumerist glamour of the eighties boom. In addition, Miu Miu has a strong legacy of glitter in their collection – whether embellishing shoes or decorating necklines – and even the Prada show this season featured gemmed hairclips and brooches.
Princess Di ruffles and prints
While the patents and minidresses evoked a Siouxie Sioux aesthetic, romper dresses and ruffled yokes were a throwback to eighties conservatism. Pristine pleating was pressed into domestic prints, whose stripes and geometric designs were interrupted by sparkling gems. They were Laura Ashley taking a turn for the glamorous, their Princess Diana frills modernised when decorated with glittering embellishments or worn under an animal print coat.
Unusual colour combinations
A recurrent theme of A/W15 has been one of unusual colour combinations – as was seen in contrasting ways at Gucci and Prada, Miu Miu continued the trend by pairing high-saturated rainbow colours with dark tweeds, teals and pinks with reds, minty greens with leafy ones. Orange mock-crock was worn underneath python dyed a fire engine red, a canary yellow swing coat paired with sky blue accessories. It was a charmingly ecclectic mixture of colour and textures; for A/W15 at Miu Miu, more was more.