Prada Spring Summer 2013 Review

I was very excited to see the new Prada collection and I always am. I think that whether or not Miuccia Prada’s work is intellectual is besides the point because editors and journalists will always discus Prada’s work in an intellectual way. And I think the reason behind this is that each season you see so much commercial garbage spewed out on the runway that your brain switches off and you’re just looking at hemlines and dollar signs. When you see a Prada show on the other hand, you use your mind. I do however feel that at times with a show like Prada journalists use the show as an opportunity to express their own intellectual vanities. Sort of like ‘oh look how smart and clever I am, I picked out stripes as a way to discuss the current political climate.’ But like I said, shows of this calibre are far and few between so people really let rip their impressions and ideas of what a show represents. They’re what I’d describe as these ‘art gallery’ moments.

This season Miuccia Prada took a stark, romantic journey turning out mostly black dresses embellished with a very simple flower motif. There wasn’t a single pair of pants but there were shorts and even a knitted onesie. I think the lack of pants really reinforced that thread of femininity that ran through the collection. But it was balanced. She didn’t need to have flouncy, wispy clothes to get that feminine statement across because she knows many women don’t live in that type of world or want to where they’re restricted by the clothes that they wear. I think the shapes-60’s, boxy-and the fabric choices were modern and tough and gave great balance to the quite crude flower prints.

The shoes garnered a lot of attention and it wouldn’t be a Prada collection without great accessories which really put the icing on the cake. The Japanese inspiration in the collection came through most evidently in the geta-like sandals with metallic tabi socks.  I thought the bags were rather weak this season with the exception of the style that opened the show; a metal framed bag that looked like a little loop of fabric with a kiss lock fastening and tortoise shell chain handle.