“It’s Prada AW12”

Prada is known to always surprise: to disorientate us in a good way. This season the surprise was that there wasn’t much of a surprise, but rather an endorsement of the emerging trends for the season.

The thing with a new Prada show is that you’re usually still so hooked on the last one (oh, flamed heels and race car bags!) that it’s hard to accept the new mood. Especially this season when Miuccia chose to create something more serious.

The models with their dip-died hair and black/orange eye make-up suggest an Amazonian warrior, while the geometric print on the clothes evoke 1960s pop art. This collection is incredibly concrete. Starting with black, which according to Muiccia ‘felt important,’ the solidity of the black was reflected in the angles of the lean pants and block heels. And then that Prada fun emerged: geometric prints on jackets, shirts and bags, always toped with the resin stones that define this collection.

There were no dresses… depending on what you define as a dress. Is a dress a dress if it needs pants under it? This is a subject I’m sure we’ll still frequently address. But let’s not get too involved in it now.

When Miuccia Prada enters for her bow, the applause is not the sort you hear at a fashion show, but more the kind you hear when a celebrity enters on Ellen. People have become intensely passionate about this brand: they will wear it with pride and passion, and will covet the clothes with an almost cult-like obsession. It’s clear that, with the passing of every season, it becomes even more poignant to say, upon the request of the name of the label you’re wearing, “it’s Prada.”

I ask you: is this not the height of fashion influence? 

Images: vogue.it