Prada: Origami orchestra

Japan has always had a major influence on Italian fashion, rarely more so than this season at Prada, in an austere show yet amply authoritative collection, whose leit motif was the art of origami.

From the opening looks, prim mid-calf white silk skirts, embellished with origami flowers, leaves and shurikens; and worn with slant heel shoes featuring leather origami petals. Each paired with simple cashmere crew necks.

Warming to theme, models even marched in origami cut wrap miniskirts, worn with great suede blazers.

A martial mood, given the front-creased officer’s pants and the khaki shirts, some of which were then extrapolated into long shirt dresses, so lengthy one model had to hold the train in order to walk.

Show invitations had announced the Prada plan, with a sumptuous book on the Fondazione’s latest exhibition Recycling Beauty, a meditation on recurring themes in classicism, along with a white fabric Calla lily. The same flower that blossomed on a gray skirt worn by a hyper blonde Gigi Hadid.

Tailoring wise, everything was worthy of applause, especially a series oversized boyfriend blazers in leather treated to look like elephant skin, in shades of sinful red, Stasi anthracite and eggshell blue. Before the show went into overdrive with matelassé skirts and jerkins, with a Prada logo used as trim – on the outside. Unheard of in fashion at this house until recently.

Throughout, an ideal sense of volume, never too stagey, always flattering, all the way to the curved beige duffle coat worn by Kendall Jenner. One of a splendid cast, made up with metallic hued eye-lashes, that marched to Roxy Music’s mordant classic, In Every Dream Home a Heartache.

There was a time, almost a decade long, starting at the beginning of the century, when most informed fashion insiders would have said that Miuccia Prada was the single most influential designer in fashion.
That ended when, fairly or unfairly, most of those same people felt that Miuccia’s creative juices flowed far less, and that she was too distracted by her Fondazione Prada.

This Thursday in Milan, however, there was an overriding sense that Miuccia, in tandem with design partner Raf Simons, had reclaimed her mantle as heavyweight champion of fashion. One of those shows which the Italians would describe as 10 e lode – meaning full marks with distinction.

Prada: Origami orchestra

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