Prada S/S 2013 Milan

[Tentacl Ventricl]

Well... I really disliked that "car" collection with the 50s nostalgia and references to being "sweet".

So: this is a welcome change for me. I like it! There, phew, I said it.

It has the geisha references, yes, but there's a toughness here in all the folds and flowers. Everything is undercut (overcut?). And the 60s references, too, in the daises and minis, suggest a more liberated self. Those totally rad sunglasses seem very sixties, B) as do some of the bags, too.The shoes, of course, are silly, but they're part of the whole, the metonymic drift, you could say. Here, she plays. Just like those car shoes!

The folding made me think of Christopher Kane's collection for Spring; he too manipulated fabric back on itself like that. He tacked it with a bolt, she with another fold.

The collection seems like a mix of Japanese hyperrealism, 60s nostalgia, and a nod to the future as well. For me, it works.

Much as I love you NJP (oops ), I feel this is something of an interpretative bum steer.

Yes you can see a 60's influence if you want - in the minis and the joyful nature nod of the flowers - but, for me, if we want to get rid of retroism (and I am pleased that by and large there's now, finally, less of it; I think we should resist viewing things through that particular prism?

You got the geisha references so why not continue that line of flight into one's understanding of the meaning attributed by the flowers? If we look at eastern/chinese floral symbolism the daisy connotes innocence, purity, loyalty and, intriguingly, the keeping of secrets. So a sweetness but undercut, within, we might say, loyalty (monogamy?) when being loyal pans out into the harbouring of a shared confidence - the becoming a confidant. So sweetness but just beneath the surface, something naughtier, something to be hidden from convention and polite society. A gentle eroticism. Of focus upon the connection between hiddenness and the flower. To represent that one keeps one's flower hidden is nevertheless a reference to the hidden flower. Perhaps these sweet Prada girls are, this season, mistresses. Which speaks again to the french sensibility. Is there perhaps a little Gauginism at work here - that french Polynenisian naturalism?

Re the video just above: it's soundtrack is different to the one with the video at #57 on page 4 of this thread. I know not which is the 'correct' soundtrack, the one Prada played contemporaneously. But I urge people to view #57. That soundtrack is gateway to the sensual eroticism and erotic sensuality of the collection. And what woman doesn't love a bit of erotic sensuality, a naughty secret here and there and the thought of worship of her hidden flower?

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

http://www.chinaflowerscn.com/english/flower_show.asp?newsid=136

thought to share it before I shut it down

 

[mistress_f]

Re the video just above: it's soundtrack is different to the one with the video at #57 on page 4 of this thread. I know not which is the 'correct' soundtrack, the one Prada played contemporaneously. But I urge people to view #57. That soundtrack is gateway to the sensual eroticism and erotic sensuality of the collection. And what woman doesn't love a bit of erotic sensuality, a naughty secret here and there and the thought of worship of her hidden flower?

the original soundtrack is the one in the video at #57 and while i was not particularly fond of it, i agree that it's a perfect complement to the eroticism of the collection

 

[barbiestolemyDVN]

The few pieces at the end were quite lovely, and some of the coats are nice as well in prada-ugly way... Other than that, yeah disappointing

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

the original soundtrack is the one in the video at #57 and while i was not particularly fond of it, i agree that it's a perfect complement to the eroticism of the collection

I know not whether you are a 'Mistress' mistress_f in the SM/subdom sense. Your site name could of course not bear any connect at all to that world. It's perhaps your hidden secret. And decorum warrants I leave it that way and get onto my point ..which stepped off the 'mistress' thing. And which turns back to my somewhat journalistic conjuring of the Fifty Shades of Grey conduit. Nobody can deny there was a lot of grey?

Miuccia is, for me, making a journey between, facing-off, two sites of fantasy within the collective consciousness. And what a delightful thing for fashion to do. It becomes almost, literary. The whole SM thing (the marketing success of Fifty Shades merely serves to show that what is really a 90's cultural phenomenen is ready to cross over to the mainstream - the provincial, the suburban). Essentially SM is the Western fantasy du jour. To do with control and domination play, it's an adjunct of Western feminism. Perhaps? Mistress? It's a hard and fierce woman? It's a summoning of physical power? An assertion of being above (and beyond) the Other. [in a way celebrity is about that too]

But, of course, Miuccia will follow the path of examining the truth of a theme by facing it up with it's opposite. West to East - at least in the contemporary Western mind - the Eastern fantasy du jour - or better the new sun rising - is an intrigue with matters spiritual and specifically the combination of spiritualism and eroticism in the arena of tantric massage.

So, fetishism and Tantra? Opposites? Yes. There are many ways one can put it but in simple terms flogging someone or massaging them toward a whole- being multi-orgasmic state. One looks distinctly like it might have something to do with hate, the other, love?

And you see, for me, this is another chapter in Miuccia's advocating sweetness. I have always been a feminist (as much as a man can be) because I am left-leaning. But I'm afraid I do find now that in the West all too many women have become abusive to men in some form or another. Western women's obsession has come to be tied up (pun intended) with overpowering men; with getting their own way in all things, with being in control. It may have gone far enough.

Hence Miuccia essentially tells a narrative of the passing from fifty shades of grey to Tantrism. From West to East. From the old collective fantasy to the new one. Even, we might say, from darkness to light. From the myth of control to the relaxation of letting go.

I also now see fetishism as an adjunct of a particularly Western form of competitiveness. That's the same competitiveness which gives femme the notion of 'having it all'. Seems to me it's in fact a generational thing and that we're passing from darkness to light.

 

[fusilde]

I am still not too sure if I like this collection or not.. We'll see in a few days

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Yes you can see a 60's influence if you want - in the minis and the joyful nature nod of the flowers - but, for me, if we want to get rid of retroism (and I am pleased that by and large there's now, finally, less of it; I think we should resist viewing things through that particular prism?

You got the geisha references so why not continue that line of flight into one's understanding of the meaning attributed by the flowers?

I see what you mean about retroism and steering clear. I think it was mainly the minis and then also the accessories (bags, glasses) that had me thinking of the 60s. The daisy type flower was also ubiquitous back then.

I just found it hard to think of geishas in those minis, but perhaps that's the sexier bit? Of course, flowers link nicely with the geisha... "in bloom," and all those connotations. I like the idea of a subtle eroticism to the collection: the soundtrack and fabrics work with this, as does the geisha, obviously: the idea of fur on skin in the summer, and slippery satin...all very tactile.

 

[Naen]

I feel like I'm looking at a Comme des Garcons collection. Or Junya Watanabe. It's not bad, but it's not Prada.

Well, it is Prada before all else, though I fail to see genuineness behind it myself.
Personally, it sounds very degrading and unfounded comparing this with any part of Junya's oeuvre... not even aesthetically or conceptually and sure as hell doesn't have anything to deal with technique, he's proving to be of highest integrity year after year, and I like to believe - twice as masterful as anything presented in here.
The more I look at this, any cleverness behind it is just tumbling down; nor I also feel the desire to actally own/wear a single garment from the collect, and that always says a lot.
Also, what's been annoying me about Prada is that, it's been years since they've last produced a solid, timeless and what's ought to be a conteporary bag for fashion savvy women who have no intetion of being ostentatious... I was hoping the time is now, but...

 

[imagensfashions]

Too much fur for summer!! Don't like the shoes and the hair, but at least was a good collection

 

[Alexei]

For the most part, this was just head-to-toe awful. Very few pieces/outfits I was truly able to appreciate, especially with those vile shoes.

 

[paz2992]

let's ignore the shoes because we all know how hideous they are... but the collection i think was good. some of the shapes of some pieces remind me the ones shown in SS10. some of the patterns were put in in a very subtile way... other i thought were just messy. i don't know i guess it gets my approval... probably because i loved so much SS10 and in some weird way it kind of reminds me of that.

 

[ad041715]

I could have done without the drab, repetitive flower print that made its presence known throughout the collection but some looks, with their geometric shape, were layered so beautifully. The shapes of some dresses (particularly those at the end) were stunning and while those shoes are some of the ugliest I've ever seen I must admit their structure was fascinating. I actually really liked the ones that were studded

Overall a forgettable Prada collection, however, I do admire the inspiration behind it and its overall construction.

 

[karina_zb]

Why does everyone hate this this is my favorite prada collection insuch a long time !
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[birdofparadise]

It's an interesting collection in context with her show at the Met over the summer and the whitewashing that followed at her mens + womens resort collections.

When it was all said and done, I went right back to YSL's opium collection from '77. He kind of laid down a blueprint that hasn't been hankered with very much, of exploring a culture and it's 'costume' through a fashion collection.

Prada explored the strictly feminine world of the geisha, developing some of the shapes from something as simple and difficult as the way a woman wearing a kimono would hold it in front of herself as she, say, were climbing stairs.

I thought it overall was a sensitive exploration that speaks more to the west's fascination with Japan than about Japan itself. The fact that she was able to also segue into an almost couture like examination of structure and stiffness was expert. No kawaii, no anime and yet still attention grabbing, still difficult for many if not most to wear. And yet I hope many would be game.

 

[KKnardi]

this is so strange collection i wanna hang myself, but I love it

 

[Shiru]

It's so frumpy and cheap-looking tho...

 

[donyan]

one of my fave collections this season, just wonderful

 

[bella753]

Prada usually manages to get just the right amount of quirky and elegant. I'm disappointed here.. (not even going to mention the shoes.)

 

[neur0se]

Actually, we should talk about the shoes.

 

[Prairie]