Redefining a Fresh Start: Prada Womenswear S/S21
The collection we’ve been waiting for is here - Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons finally showed their first womenswear collection for Prada SS21. It was only February when the official announcement that Miuccia and Raf would be joining forces at Prada to design womenswear and menswear collections for the historic house. This joining of forces was a very exciting announcement for the fashion world and presents an opportunity for two of the world’s greatest working designers and fashion pioneers to come together in an unprecedented partnership. This S/S21 show follows the much-lauded and talked about S/S21 menswear show in July, which served as Mrs. Prada’s end as the sole-head designer of the house of Prada.
Say what you will about your favorites, but it has been ever apparent that Miuccia Prada is one of the few designers who can define a trend. I don’t just mean an “it” bag or shoe, but the ability to set a trend based in a mood, vibrational energy that permeates fashion and culture at large. Regardless of the state of the fashion world, Miuccia continuously delivers exactly this, collection after collection. At the risk of sounding trite, Miuccia designs collections that make you think. Something pertinent for the fashion industry that seems to be devoid of direction right now.
The fashion industry’s lost sense of direction has given these two icons the opportunity to reshape the landscape of high fashion, similar to Karl Lagerfeld’s placement at Chanel in 1983. Now that the dust has settled following this digital presentation, it begs the question of whether or not this partnership will do just that. The answer is a resounding YES! The direction Prada and Simons took with this show was not to turn the fashion industry on its head, to rear its ugly head back it at itself, or to cleave the timeline of high fashion into two distinct eras, the then and the now. What they did rather was set a foundation. Much like a house to be built, the concrete foundation must be laid. Much like a glass of wine is to be poured, the roots need to be planted first. They cemented a path forward that I believe the fashion industry at large will soon follow in the steps of. This foundational collection for the duo resonated far beyond just clothes on a runway.
Even how the collection was presented followed this ideology the duo has now sent out into the universe. First down the runway were a series of basics: shell tops, matching narrow trousers, clutch-close coats (a nod to Miuccia) that enveloped the body, all marked with Prada’s distinct triangle logo featured prominently. A basis for a uniform for the modern age. Next, they layered knits, undershirts, polka dot cut-out turtle necks, 1950s skirts, graphic sweatshirts nodding to Raf’s sense of decoding, prints designed by artist Peter De Potter, referencing exotic blooms. It was a harmonious combination of two great minds that played out like written instructions of where the industry needs to go.
The collection was appropriately named “Dialogues,” which seems all too fitting for the state of the world we live in. In a time where people are more divided than ever, where we have stopped have sensible conversations, the duo reminded us how powerful and valuable having a dialogue is and what it means for renewal. To underscore the tone of a fresh start, every model that walked in the show was walking their first fashion show ever. Within the pastel-colored room where the show took place, screens hung from the ceiling like chandeliers, prominently displaying the names of each young woman as she appeared, reminding the world that she was not a hanger, but a human being.
This first collection from the duo gave us a pared-back gesture, reducing clothes to their most essential lines. We have entered the age where women’s clothing needs to be challenging, bizarre, and at times even ugly again, and the duo at Prada have laid the groundwork to give us just that in the coming collections.
Check out the entire first womenswear collection and stay tuned for the duo’s first menswear show slated for January.