Prada S/S 2009 Milan

[Spike413]

In all fairness though, she usually is ahead of the pack. This just happens to be one example of her being on the same wavelength as everybody else instead of being so different from whatever else is going on that she is, in essence, ahead of everyone else because wherever she goes, legions of designers will follow.

I think maybe the standard she's held to is insanely high. For most other designers, were they to do bare midriffs and rumpled, worn looking fabrics they'd be right on track with where fashion is going. For Prada, it comes off as lazy.

I can't fault it for that though, because it's really stuff that she always comes back to, after all of the fairies, feathers and faux fur, she always ends up going back to the whole proper and ladylike/sexually frustrated and oddball dichotomy with weird fabrications and frumpy proportions. That's the real Prada.

 

[ultramarine]

This is the first time I have ever liked a Prada collection right off the bat. There's a first time for everything I suppose.

Im totally with you ... it has never ever happened to me before ... I even love the bare midriffs and the vibe!

I feel ....weird

 

[voguelover94]

But exoticism has been on display for so many seasons now. And really, midriffs popped up all over NYC. As did rumpled fabrics (Yigal Azrouel did it especially well!) So Miuccia isn't exactly breaking new ground here, and her whole legacy is cemented around the belief that she is supremely directional and seasons ahead of her peers. Instead, she recycles ideas (in the hem lengths and shoes and peek-a-boo "erotic" displays) of her own and otherwise merely underscores other trends we've noted thus far in Spring 2009. And the palette, in my opinion, is appalling. My jaw literally dropped when I saw those eye-wateringly gold, tattered foil-like dresses. I swear to you, if any American designer had the gaul to create those, every editor and critic would be merciless in their criticism.
Sadly, I'm sure Prada will reap the majority of credit if rumpled, paper mache textile themes, garish gold, and bare midriffs DO emerge as editorial or retail trends. She deserves the benefit of the doubt, but a lazy collection is a lazy collection.

style.com already has.

Miuccia Prada had a sound bite for her Spring collection. "It's primitive," she said, "going back to what counts." And what counts most in a back-to-basics time, when most of us will need truly visceral temptation to get us out and shopping? Why, glamour and eroticism, of course. When the chips are down, there is no one who can turn up the thermostat of subversive sexual provocation quite as high as Mrs. Prada. Her girls, their skin glistening as if on a fevered summer's night, might have been passing through on their way to or from lovers' assignations, their clothes disarranged in various states of falling-off, or looking as if they might do so at any moment. Rumpled and crinkled fabrics have been appearing all over this season, but never with such sly intent. One pull of a trailing drawstring tape and, whoops! A person could find herself half naked. Not that this collection is, of course, at all brassy. From some angles, it can all look like a perfectly innocent summery dishevelment—that is, until there's a glimpse into an open-sided dress, or a cashmere sweater turns to display hospital-tape ties holding the back together (or just about).

There was something fabulously Italian about all this shameless reveling in femininity. The fifties overtones, with the high chignons, the ruched bras, and swishing rear-action in the below-knee pencil skirts managed to channel the heyday of Cinecitta without cliché. Best of all, this is a collection destined to look even better on a woman with a real body than it does on a teen model. And that, Mrs. Prada surely knows, really is "what counts."

Style.com

 

[shirleebee]

style.com has vested interests in specific designers, and Prada is of course one of them.
I also think it is laughable to suggest that "real" women would look any better in these garments. I can see - maybe - wearing a drawstring, rumpled blazer over a simple contrasting top, for the benefit of textural contrast. For some reason, though, entire ensembles featuring that ripply, overworked fabric and dangling appendages (almost nylon sportswear material) come off as sloppy to me, even in consideration of the unquestionably specific and intentional styling of the runway looks. If it looks disheveled here, imagine how it will looked out of context? Of course, when this collection is actually manufactured, it will likely be tweaked a lot.

 

[izzie stevens]

^ That's why you have to look at the pieces as separate pieces, and not as they are paired together on the runway. I'm sure that on "real women" these pieces can all, separately, look great.

 

[shirleebee]

I think it's important to evaluate the collections on all levels. I mean, if I were a buyer or editor, I would be thinking immediately of singling out specific pieces based on what will sell or what will work well for editorial. But as someone who sees the runway as a bit of performance art, the way it is presented outright is very telling of the designer's intentions. In the end, we can buy and style the individual garments however we see fit, but it's pretty clear that Miuccia likes the idea of matching rumpled separates this season. Personally, I think most of this looks terrible on the models and will look worse on celebrities and Prada customers. It just isn't (again in my opinion) an attractive or flattering collection.

 

[irulan]

those last two season, when i saw the lace show and the fairy show, my first thought always was: oh my god, take this away from me and don't let me see this ever again! well, as we all know, the following months those collections graced every cover of every magazine and were to be seen in every editorial inside. i came to like some pieces when i saw them ironed on a pretty girl, but every time i revisited the runway pics and videos, i felt once more that this was all to ugly to be true.
now this time on the runway, even though this is not my style and i won't be wearing any of this, i like it far better. it works together very well and this sultry, sexy feeling is quite a turn-on. the girls look fresh and elegant with their oily skin and carefully done up hair.
what really gives me pain however is to think of those countless editorials and covers in the future. innumerable models wearing those bras, those pencils skirts with those backless cashmeres...those heels and of course with the little socks inside...oh, if you take those "primitive" clothes away from their styling and their runway and their models, this will be a very dull spring.

 

[*sayan]

Beautiful textures, inspiring designs and styling. not dying for the shoes. but the overall image is just so good . channeling CdG and lanvin.

 

[jml2]

the crinkled material is so beautiful

 

[morgan38]

Prada collections usually need time to grow on me.

But, as of now, this is super ugly.

 

[helmut.newton]

The shoes were seriously BEYOND anything I've ever seen!

It's a shame they'll reduce the height of the heel. It'll kill the whole intimidation factor of the shoes!

 

[Emilia]

Hq





FWD

 

[Sophia.]

The shoes were seriously BEYOND anything I've ever seen!

It's a shame they'll reduce the height of the heel. It'll kill the whole intimidation factor of the shoes!

I feel the same! Most of them are beautiful... but it would really take away from the appeal if they shorten the heel height.

 

[Style-Addict]

I still need time to digest it all...not sure how I feel, a bit confused, stunned, intrigued.

 

[Amélie]

Given how much discussion has been generated on this thread, I expect this collection has achieved its goal in challenging our normal expectations of fashion, most likely what Muiccia intended.
I am sure that over time, many will warm to the pieces.

 

[Naïade]

Thank you for the HQs Emilia!

 

[Dkammern]

the prada shows always generate a lot of discussion!! (20 pages )
my first impression was that she had gone too much in the same direction than resort (the python print and pencil skirts) and so i was afraid that i'd be immediately too wearable.
for the last few seasons she had decided to go in a very precise and single direction (the lace last winter, the "pyjama-party" for the summer, the mohair and bath-rug collection, the SHORTskirts+turbans...)
this however seems to have more differentiated passages, so that there was a time for print, then for the black and beige and brown and gold... managing to still be cohesive even though the collection pointed in different directions.
as people have said, it's not her best collection, and it doesnt seem too remarcable compared to the other shows in milan (as it is most seasons)... but still it was a great show that i'll be able to look at and never get bored for months, finding new details, interesting proportions, awesome layering...

 

[Amywilliams]

Is there a full video of the show up anywhere!?

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^I'd kill for one. I am so obsessed with this show! I cannot stop drooling over most of these pieces!

 

[FogUponLA]

But exoticism has been on display for so many seasons now. And really, midriffs popped up all over NYC. As did rumpled fabrics (Yigal Azrouel did it especially well!) So Miuccia isn't exactly breaking new ground here, and her whole legacy is cemented around the belief that she is supremely directional and seasons ahead of her peers. Instead, she recycles ideas (in the hem lengths and shoes and peek-a-boo "erotic" displays) of her own and otherwise merely underscores other trends we've noted thus far in Spring 2009. And the palette, in my opinion, is appalling. My jaw literally dropped when I saw those eye-wateringly gold, tattered foil-like dresses. I swear to you, if any American designer had the gaul to create those, every editor and critic would be merciless in their criticism.
Sadly, I'm sure Prada will reap the majority of credit if rumpled, paper mache textile themes, garish gold, and bare midriffs DO emerge as editorial or retail trends. She deserves the benefit of the doubt, but a lazy collection is a lazy collection.

I agree with every single thing you've had to say about this collection It's such a shame that Miuccia's work always receives such blind praise.