Pastel coloured foam was the fabric of choice for both the invitation and the seating. Plastic garden chairs, the kind you might find at a BBQ on a suburban patio provided seating options too. Only Miuccia Prada could take the banalism of such an item and make it feel like the new kitsch. The opening section saw girls wearing plaid blanket style gilets and knee high socks. Backstage, after the show, when I suggested the opening section had an outdoorsy camping feel, Mrs Prada replied 'It's summer!' I had thought it looked rather Autumn/Winter - but what are seasons now? I guess, for me, it was the plaid that had done it, it felt grungy for summer - but plaid possibly played a part in Mrs Prada's desired mish-mashing of two particular decades. The fifties were here no doubt. Kitchen tile and Formica style prints graced pastel dresses - and there was a knock-out prom style white embroidered dress worn with flats. When I asked Mrs Prada about her ongoing fascination with the mid twentieth century (and specifically the fifties), and whether it will always be here in her work, she said: 'Your past is always present somehow. For me, this season it was mostly my interpretation of the fifties in the nineties.'
She also chatted about the interplay between Miu Miu and Prada, suggesting this collection had a connection to not just Miu Miu's take on the nineties but Prada's too. She jokingly added 'People hate it when I do that - I do Prada at Miu Miu and vice versa!' Lace, shirting, socks, the colour orange, the chevron pattern, the sheer skirt - there were plenty of DNA Miuccia components here. Asymmetric lace necklines worn with headbands and tulle slips layered over checked dresses were some of the other ways that ideas from both the nineties and fifties were layered. Not only did the asymmetric line have a nineties (on seventies) vibe too, but it also tapped into past collections at both Miu Miu and Prada when Mrs Prada was taken with Roman Antiquity and neoclassical beauty. Here, to accessorise the silhouette of a nonchalant toga layered over a striped tee, flat brown sandals were both geek chic Prada and gladiatorial. Less theme-y than last season, this collection seemed to be more of a discourse in styling the ultimate wardrobe. In a similar way to how Alessandro Michele has recently said that he just wants to continue creating his same aesthetic at Gucci, this was Mrs Prada confidently reinvestigating her world, its history and its future. One thing is for sure, Alessandro Michele is trying to take Miuccia Prada's knowledge of cycles and culture - and put it in on a fast spin. Even if it means apparently standing still. What we need to remember is that Miuccia Prada invented the washing machine. This season she too stood still and proved this to us once and for all.
