Prada puts skirts center stage in Milan as hemlines stir political uproar in Italy
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MILAN (AP) — The Prada model grips her full, pleated skirt into a rosette at the unfinished waist, evoking feminine beauty with a subversive twist.
Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons kept the focus of their Spring-Summer 2027 collection firmly “waist down,” revisiting the subject of a traveling Prada exhibition staged two decades ago. That new show examined the place in contemporary wardrobes of one of humanity’s oldest garments: the skirt.
The collection arrived amid an uproar in Italy over remarks by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggesting that women who wear longer skirts are more faithful. Tajani later apologized, saying he had not intended to offend women. The coincidental timing of the controversy only gave resonance to a collection that treats the skirt as a way for women to express themselves — at any length.
Recasting an ancient form for modern times
For practicality and creativity, nothing surpasses the skirt, according to Prada, who favors skirts in her own wardrobe, including a pink silk one she wore for a backstage preview before the runway show that opened Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday.
“If you want to have a normal life, go wherever you want. It’s easy to camouflage even a beautiful skirt,’’ she said. “You need to camouflage the beauty so that you can live with people.”
The creative directors’ decision to keep trousers and dresses out of this collection was inspired by an old video interview of Prada likening the skirt to a T-shirt for men, as “the place where she can put all her ideas,” Simons said.
From the swath of material that ancient man wrapped around the waist, Prada used a rectangular piece of material as the collection’s starting point, which Prada said became the framework for creativity.
Using the skirt as a creative canvas
Reversing the runway convention of emphasizing the female bodice, black tops in varying styles provided a blank canvas for the first group of skirts.
Woolen numbers fastened with industrial Velcro to allow adjustable slits Sheer nylon formed feminine pleats, while short cotton skirts in naïve prints peeked from beneath coats and sheer crinoline overlaid crumpled silken skirts with flattened ruffles.
Bralettes, bandeaus and bustiers, tiny though they were, offered another outlet for expression. They included scoop-neck bralettes, bandeaus linked to arm bands and bustiers worn unhooked over homely knitwear.
Footwear ranged from silk slingbacks to industrial perforated-leather pumps, while handbags included canvas purses in bright colors.
Rather than proposing complete looks, the collection offered building blocks for self-expression.
“I think you can express complexity,” Prada said. “Everything is so complex — how can you be just one thing? When you express yourself, it is not that you are feminine, sexy, masculine; you are so many things together.”
