Swim caps on, beach towels at the ready! Miuccia Prada was apparently in a playful summer mood when she put together the Miu Miu collection (though, sadly, her models weren’t smiling about it). At a time when there’s so much trouble and stress in the world, it’s sometimes a treat to take a break from thinking too much. Who, at this juncture, wouldn’t want to buy into the sunny retro-fantasy of Italy at its glamorous postwar peak?
That’s when Prada was a girl, of course. This is a period she knows so well—the optimistic culture of ’60s and early-’70s prints (schematic daisies; abstract art; and hand-smocked baby dresses for little children transformed into cropped blouses). She also grew up with a mother and a grandmother who wore lovely ’40s-print dresses; on the runway were several extremely tempting examples of these, complete with back ties.
All of these looks were accompanied either by beach slides or wedge sandals, which, on close inspection, had shells and starfish embossed into them. Later, they were worn by delightfully sexy ’50s pinup girls in ruched bikinis. All this, of course, would be to overlook the multiple examples of ’60s fit-and-flare coats in this collection. It was a great deal of fun, gratefully received in this time of chaos.
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