Miuccia Prada’s radical dedication to the skirt
By Scarlett Conlon
Milan (CNN) — The skirt to Prada is what the trench coat is to Burberry and the Bar jacket is to Dior; a defining silhouette that has underpinned every collection since co-creative director Miuccia Prada took over her family business in the late 1970s.
Prada has never wavered in her devotion to the skirt and has rarely been spotted wearing anything else but an A-line cut. “The skirt is like a T-shirt,” she said in a 2006 interview on Charlie Rose which gained new legs online after Prada’s skirt-focused show opened Milan Fashion Week.
For Prada, skirts are the basis for building everything else –– shirt, sweater, you name it. “I’m much more interested in them than trousers,” she continued. “I always say that women wearing trousers are more interested in having their bag looking good, and with a skirt you can do so much more, you can put so much more creativity.”
And so the Italian fashion house did what it does best on Tuesday, with a Spring-Summer 2027 collection simply titled: “The Skirt.” Below the waist it was a one-track mind, with not a dress, trousers or shorts among the 63 looks. The hyper-focused runway collection was “an exercise of exploration inside strict parameters,” said Prada and her co-creative director, Raf Simons, in the show notes.
The skirt (fashion loves a singular noun) came pleated in muted hues of gray and black, with flashes of fluorescent panels. It was layered and ruched with bows; printed with graphic sketching; dip-dyed to resemble a Rothko painting; and embroidered all over with crystals. On most, delicate jewels were appliquéd to industrial Velcro to provide a point of subversion –– a pre-requisite in every Prada collection.
“There is a lot of illogical behavior –– which is an important notion, in Prada as a whole and this collection specifically,” said Simons.
The creative duo was “fascinated by the way Prada skirts, not alone but in particular, stand the test of time,” added Simons. “Their eccentricity, their form, their decoration – there is something lasting in their design language.” After years of tailored trousers and tracksuit bottoms dominating trends, the skirt is having a resurgence. The global skirts market is projected to grow almost 6.5% year-on-year to 2033; partly driven by an industry shift away from the muted tones of “quiet luxury,” and towards a more playful and diverse wardrobe. Though not without fiercely dividing opinion.
On one hand, designer Dario Vitale’s popular one-and-only collection for Versace in February (he departed shortly after the Prada Group acquired the brand and has just been appointed as the late Giorgio Armani’s successor at Emporio Armani) produced the skirt of the season: a pencil number bearing Warhol-inspired prints. On the other, the industry-favorite podcast, “An Excellent Fit” recently declared “the death of the skirt.” In the episode, the Financial Times’ “HTSI” editor Jo Ellison revealed she had simply eliminated skirts from her wardrobe because they were “too hard.” With their various lengths, and accompanying styles of shoes, “they require so much thought about what goes with them and how to put on the top,” added Ellison. “They’re just not worth the time or investment.”
For Prada, it is this very complexity that makes skirts so attractive creatively. “With individual garments, you can combine ideas,” she said. “Each skirt can also be entirely reinvented by every person who wears it, through its combinations and juxtapositions with other pieces. They can transform its meaning. The skirt is an object that is contemporary, because it is flexible, adaptable. It invites contradiction.”
For Prada and Simons, “The Skirt” wasn’t about creative reduction. Instead, their hero item became an ideal vehicle for personal expression.
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