Prada S/S 2012 Milan

[mistress_f]

well, out of the vast degrading imaginary of the italian man, i hardly think 'women on cars' is exactly the strong point. Historically, it's not an image that comes from our culture. We didn't have pinups on hotrods back in the 50s and we surely do not have that now as a recurring image / man fantasy, i don't think that's exactly the goal that miuccia was aiming at, at all. Tim Blank's review kinda confused me on that. There's nothing in this collection that would appeal the 'italian men'. Houses like Cavalli, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana - that's the woman you want to make them happy. A lady in pretty clothes in pastel colours - wether they have cars printed on them or not - is not going to titillate any 'typical' italian man.

 

[liberty33r1b]

Prada's Hot Rod Sweetness
By SUZY MENKES
MILAN — For any other designer, it would have been a car crash. Crusty guipure lace fronting a tough, garage mechanic-style jacket. Automobile prints racing across wafty, feminine, pleated dresses. And the models striding on streamlined shoes shaped like car fins.

“Donna e Motori,” or women and cars, said Miuccia Prada, taking an Italian expression pregnant with glamour and testosterone but using it as a tool for her main aim for Prada summer 2012: to bring back “sweetness.”

“I tried to do a sweet collection. That word is such a taboo. Why do women have to be so aggressive?” the designer said backstage.

From this concoction, Ms. Prada produced one of those brilliant collections that was fresh, new, witty, clever in its mix of hard and soft — and yet another chance for the fashion world to feed off her ideas.

The set, by the team of the front-row guest Rem Koolhaas, gave the first clue: a space like an industrial street, with the effect of oil spills, heavy metal pillars and abstract cars in pastel pink colors.

All those elements appeared on the runway: the sugary pink, yellow and light blue of a Cadillac that could have been ordered up for Elvis; a bustier top and slim skirt exuding the hot sexiness of a revved-up motor; an almost childlike addiction to cars — appliquéd on clutch bags and, by the end of the show, with hot-rod flame symbols flaring over the back of a coat.

Yet the show was, as the designer said, “sweet” with its rose-shaped sparkle earrings and a daintiness in the pleated skirts fanning the legs or in the coats. This was Ms. Prada at her ironic best: making clothes roaring with originality and sweet, indeed, to wear.

nytimes.com

 

[julien520]

Prada might be innovative season after season but its never a brand that tries to create a pretty and desirable woman image,it is successful basically due to the fact that its a preference of Anna Wintour

 

[Street_a_Licious]

another contender for 'Shoe of S/S '12', next to the Prorsums.

 

[ToniOrtega]

Once again, Miuccia Prada showed the industry that Prada and Predictable will never be synonymous nor will it ever be used in the same sentence (unless the word not is in the middle)! The collection is as elegant as it is comical and sexual. Beautiful in its own way, the collection induces such great fantasies among the buyers and fashion-lovers (I know many of us can imagine billions of ideas of editorials that contain the pieces). The bags were divine and the shoes were adorable My personal favorite was the black and marron jewel-toned bathing suit that was decorated with pink crystals! It was so pretty and fascinating! Another favorite: the 3-dimensional floral coat that Natasha wore to close the show - effortless elegance at its best! With all the quirky prints and classy coats that dominated the collection, I'm positive that this (quintessentially) comical Prada collection is a hit among women and their men!

 

[jmrmartinho]

who thinks this colection look like Miu Miu didnt read an enterview that Miuccia gave when she said that in her atlier she mixes it all and some times the prada colection was originaly Miu Miu and the looks from one goes to another so i dont find nothing too "Miu Miu" about the colection

 

[Not Plain Jane]

well, out of the vast degrading imaginary of the italian man, i hardly think 'women on cars' is exactly the strong point. Historically, it's not an image that comes from our culture. We didn't have pinups on hotrods back in the 50s and we surely do not have that now as a recurring image / man fantasy, i don't think that's exactly the goal that miuccia was aiming at, at all. Tim Blank's review kinda confused me on that. There's nothing in this collection that would appeal the 'italian men'. Houses like Cavalli, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana - that's the woman you want to make them happy. A lady in pretty clothes in pastel colours - wether they have cars printed on them or not - is not going to titillate any 'typical' italian man.

Interesting points. And given your locale, you have an excellent viewpoint from which to judge. Tim Blanks should have not said "Italian manhood" if you are right. It seems it is more 50s America, perhaps. And it does align with the "Mad Men" interest here.

Sweetness? I don't get it from cars. Still cannot stand those aspects of the collection: find them utterly unappealing & kitschy in the worst way - especially the accessories.

If anything, cars need to be rethought altogether, given global warming, and not celebrated in a nostalgically "sweet" way, on girls...or women. The references to housewives and pinups seem questionable. Why would Muiccia want women to be "sweet" and demure, and not "aggressive"? It seems too reactionary. Why put cars on female bodies, when cars, boats, etc, have been gendered female? There is something unsavory about all of this to me (I am still a feminist in a post-feminist world, which is half the problem), and thus the "quirkiness" and/or "irony" don't work as a result.

 

[Desi]

What makes it wrong for a woman to enjoy cars or any kind of "gendered" female product? A industrialized product serves all genders such as the fashion industry can. Even as a feminist, which surely most if not all on this forum are, an aggressive nature can be too much of a bad thing and even for Miuccia could just be a bit boring by now. I would grow tired with this edgy badgirl being what's what just as I have grown tired of mountain flannel man. Everything does not have to exert Malcolm X when King Jr. can move the same point along.

I do feel that Tim Blanks was took a little wrong when he put together the Italian man's love of Cars and Women to equal Women in cars/Cars on women.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Why were cars (& countries) gendered female in the first place? Because they were "objects" of ownership and desire. As far as moving a point along, yes, there are many ways. And King & Malcolm X had their positives. Of course both were assassinated. So point stalled? Neither women's, gays' nor minorities' rights are as far along as they should be the world over. Time to be sweet? Doesn't work for me. But, it does for others. Which is fine. To me, it feels like one big huge "stall" - Urrrrrrrch! Motor broken.

 

[softgrey]

good discussion about the retro vibe here and at jil sander this season happening in this related thread in the 'In Depth' forum...

check it out...Hyperfemininity: Do women really want to look like that again?
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f12...ml#post9716385

​

 

[softgrey]

Prada might be innovative season after season but its never a brand that tries to create a pretty and desirable woman image,it is successful basically due to the fact that its a preference of Anna Wintour

i thought the whole thing had anna's name all over it...
i can see her in in a chiffon car print dress---totally...
*with some choker beaded necklace and some manolo's...

but yeah- i don't really want to look like anna wintour...
it's such an outdated look---
even she has been exploring new options lately...
*and looking much better, i must say...

maybe michelle obama could wear it...?
*that might be very entertaining actually---

 

[KKnardi]

Prada might be innovative season after season but its never a brand that tries to create a pretty and desirable woman image,it is successful basically due to the fact that its a preference of Anna Wintour

do you guys ever think before posting? how is prada not trying to create a pretty woman? all about this collection is to put the woman first and make her just pretty, shows in the past has been about making her intelligent etc.

anna wintour may like prada much, but that doesn't mean that millions of women around the world likes it aswell. prada is creating desirable and beautiful clothes for women. more than ever, a woman is creating clothing for women in general, that is a beautiful thing.

 

[mistress_f]

I do feel that Tim Blanks was took a little wrong when he put together the Italian man's love of Cars and Women to equal Women in cars/Cars on women.

yes, i've re-read the review and that's probably what he meant but still - she is referencing a specific imaginary here american 50s, b-movies, hot rods, cadillacs: things that don't really belong to an italian imaginary, if not remotely. had she used old italian cars, ferraris maybe, it would've made sense, but in the way the whole collection is structured, i guess what she did is more 'international' than italian. I just don't see anything here that could be linked to our popular culture/imaginary. And even looking at it from a general point of view, I guess i just fail to see a deep meaning in the use of car-prints. or a direct association between cars - women only basing that on a print / recurring theme. If miuccia herself said that she used something very manly to translate it into something sweet, that gives even less meaning to tim blanks' view, as it means that she wanted to demolish that 'combo'.

 

[iluvjeisa]

^Yeah, I agree. Those cars look like they belong on the wall of a San Diego mall - I mean that main one on the Plaza. Also, they're a little too much like the cars in that recent kids' movie.

I really don't like the cars prints....except the fact that we are probably going to have the pleasure of seeing Anna Wintour wearing clothes that look like children's pyjamas...

 

[AdaK]

If I substitute 'might' for 'should' does that fix the 'nitpick'?

Because, I think we understand each other very well in fact.

What you're saying about turning the 50's iconography on it's head, yes that's there. Presenting the dress codes with irony, an aspect of deconstruction. It keeps her artworld friends like Carsten Holler and Francesco Vezzoli on side. How clever, how postmodern, they snark.

But Miuccia has said she's making a 'bet' on 'sweetness'. Cathy Horyn has the words in inverted commas so I've kept them in inverted commas. Miuccia's words. Not mine. And that's worth thinking through a little.

Because as the Prada influence passes down through the fashion food chain, the irony gets shorn off leaving only a kernel of pure nostalgia. You see that in the work of the designers who imitate the core Prada messages and silhouettes the following season. What falls off as the trend dissipates is the irony. But this process starts within the Prada corporation. Consider the campaign visuals. The irony is choked off there. It's an object lesson in the strategies of passing fashion branding through different stages, different audiences - from art, through editorial, to commerce.

What the Prada corporation think women want is nostalgia. Lacan is good on nostalgia. He links it to a weaning complex. And in times of threatened security, uncertainty and economic malaise, there is a strong drive toward that which comforts, romanticising the past as you rightly say. The consumption of sartorial product which operates like comfort food.

When the decades referenced are the 20's and/or the 60's, like last season, progressive decades, then that's not quite so pernicious. But, as I can see you agree with me, the 1950's associations are profoundly conservative.

Prada knows that at retail people, generally, don't want postmodern irony. The 'bet' is that, in troubled times, they want to be comforted with unreconstructed nostalgia for the 50's as a golden age. I fear that it might be a good bet. I would like it not to be.

If you read the Tim Blanks review again, whilst it's more at the level of subtext - I will make the points more directly - he's saying exactly what I am. I will post it.

Yes, we are in agreement. And the "might" is perfect.

I'm glad you raised the question of how this collection and its image will trickle down to the masses. It's something I didn't even consider this time...which is hilarious. It's Prada. And yet, undoubtedly, we'll find some remnants of this collection swirling in the bubble of the current nostalgia craze.

Excellent points (and goodness, you are eloquent! ). After I responded to your post, I was pacing around my room in the wee hours, wondering why it was that I could be enthralled by 20s flapper dresses (my favorite nostalgia era, for sure) without second thought but be rubbed the wrong way by what we see here. You nailed it: progressivism. And the 20s weren't perfect by any means. The 50s, at least right now, have some powerful sway. What is it about the time?

The more I think about it, considering Prada's influence, it does leave me feeling a little disenchanted about the "bet." It's a money move, sure. But Miuccia's very keen about, or at least keen to suggest, what women want.

I know I'm getting off topic of the collection here, so I'll browse the other thread. Thank you for your question. It's been a long time since I've put some critical thinking to fashion. (And I suspect the current need for superficial escapism might make this even more problematic...)

 

[Desi]

I really don't like the cars prints....except the fact that we are probably going to have the pleasure of seeing Anna Wintour wearing clothes that look like children's pyjamas...

This brings me to an important segue. I was the only kid (boy maybe) on the block that didn't have some kind of car/hot wheels bedsheets. Still makes me mad to this day that I missed out. One of my friends still has his transformers mattress!!

 

[mint condish]

I'm one of those people who rarely "gets" Prada but wow, I get it this time. And the veteran models? My heart! The clothes are so beautiful, so gorgeous. I'm actually annoyed because I never want to sing the praises of Prada and now I kind of have to...

What's next? Me liking a Chanel collection?

 

[AgrenateD]

the trouble with 'sweet' collections, as Miuccia so daintily put it, is that it almost always borders on kitschiness, and that is what she seems to have nailed smack on the head. but knowing how bipolar Miuccia can get each season i won't even be surprised if it was indeed, one of her goals for this collection; to parlay such bewildering elements as hot rods and flowerprints unto such innocent silhouettes as pleated skirts and chiffon dresses and knee-length coats, all merging into one über-whimsical collection that make fans and consumers mistake trendiness for stylishness. these are clothes that have a one season shelf life, pieces that can be worn with unabashed, idiotic determination for a few months, then buried deep into the recesses of your closet the next.

i do hope Miuccia soon gets over her exploratory period of girlishness for Prada and make something dark and even deathly serious for Fall next year. considering how well crafted these clothes are won't it follow to appropriate some sense of longevity on the pieces?

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^Excellent point about the shelf life of hot rod fetishism, or lack thereof. It is quite similar to the banana skirt, imo. I'd like to see some sense of longevity return, esp in tough economic times. Kitsch is overrated anyhow.

 

[lordevan]

terrible shoes and bags