September 22, 2017 |
Face Milan-wards and pray. PRAY. Your new season wardrobe has, just moments ago, been decided by Miuccia Prada, because today was Prada womenswear show day, a day of such fashion-barometer-like-importance that we celebrate it as a holy day here at the Towers. We might sacrifice Garth later. Or a goat. Consider this one, Miuccia’s SS18 outing, a part deux of her menswear show earlier this year – certainly in decor – comic book illustrations, part-Lichtenstein, part-Manga, lined the walls of the show space. They were created by all-female artists, one of them choosing to depict Tarpe Mills, the creator of the first female action hero. Tarpe invented women that were tough and complicated – and, when it comes to fashion who does tough and complicated quite as well as Mrs P? So today’s girls were harder than their Cruise counterparts earlier this year – I hesitate to use these word, because it generally refers to something entirely heinous – but could we call this a bit… rockabilly? It was something about the shoes, studded, creeper-like, worn with Beetlejuice-y striped shorts – not quite punk – shirts buttoned up with the collar, some sleeveless, made from slices of kitschy leopard and tiger-print cotton, studded belts worn double. A nod to the fifties silhouette too – pinched high waistlines, round-shouldered overcoats, and, towards the end, skirts dotted with cartoon prints that flared A-line towards the hem. It lent a Prada-sweetness to it all – so too the pastel jacquards, that wrapped around the body into a strapless corset that ended on the waist with an origami bow, or the baby doll dresses that sat baggily over sleeker shirts and trousers. I mean there’s much more to unpick – look closer and there’s a multitude of details that you just have to see close up, and enough to keep you interested for hours. And, more importantly, make you want to buy. Obv!
Photographs by Jason Lloyd Evans
