Chinoiserie. Poppy prints. The 1970s. Monastic tunics. If Miuccia Prada’s intentions were to take things easy for her spring/summer 20008 menswear collection, she failed miserably. But Miuccia is never one to take the path of least reistance. Although at times, less friction may have proved dubious.
The collection began with what would later seem a visual fallacy of what was to follow - a dark, trim, one-button suit with a high stance. It was succeeded by clean, cashmere knits, in ink and slate, and 3-button shirt tunics, complete with the timely elbow-grazing sleeve length already seen at Burberry and Jil Sander earlier this weekend. Miuccia picked up last season’s man leggings, albeit reinvented as chicer long john pants - a fitting addition in light of the house’s long standing underwear-as-outerwear deviations.
Underwear aisde, the otherwise sober aesthetic quickly birthed an irreverent, playful spirit that would dominate the rest of the collection. Miuccia broke new ground with a cropped, slightly flared pant that came with a myriad of colourful bum-grazing blouses, pocketed floral-printed tunics with a reinterpreted Mandarin collar, and staunchly strapped sandals in cranberry and chocolate . At times, the exhaustive prints felt, and looked, discrete from the collection’s beginnings. Although, like usual, that’s not to say they won’t become the desideratums of the collection
Photos: TFS
Once again, everything but what I was expecting. Miuccia never seems to have a great instant impact, but the fact is that her choices will be reflected in everyone’s wardrobe next season. On a side note, I guess she heard the critics about her late polemic and, hum, grassy choices for shows’ finales.