The world is a mess — and the Prada show on Thursday was also a hot mess.
The crush to get backstage afterward was worse than ever — so intense that some editors started filming the melee, lest a human stampede ensue.
The collection was also messy, intentionally so — many of the clothes decayed, ravaged, fraying and purposely soiled, and then layered up in seemingly haphazard ways.
Fifteen models stormed through the vast, carpeted space at a furious pace, returning three more times with layers of clothing removed or added, so you discovered that a flaring skirt was actually a ’50s-inflected dress, or that there were cotton drawers and a gray sweater sheltered under a trim black pantsuit.
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons reprised many silhouettes and fabrics from their fall men’s shows, notably tubular dress coats; wrinkled shirts with dangling and demonstrative French cuffs; crinkled trenchcoats peeling away at the seams to reveal checkered wool underneath, and little utility capelets in bright cotton, here with vertical strips of animal-print fluff attached to the plackets.
New layers included sensational skirts and shift dresses where corroded black wool yielded to blurred floral prints.
As a foil to all that imperfection were hyper-luxurious accessories: petite bucket and top-handle bags in polished alligator, and tall, lace-up boots dangling beaded gewgaws, or completely paved in feathers.
Once you fought your way past security to the sweaty scrum around Simons and Prada, the latter was explaining that the layering and un-layering was to express “the continuous necessity of change” and how a woman navigates them and reflects them with her clothes.
The show space evoked a hollowed-out mansion — with fancy moldings, colonial windows and marble fireplaces still clinging to the outer walls — and was repurposed from the men’s show, with the addition of paintings and furniture from across five centuries — yet more layers, of culture, history and meaning.
Simons said he and Prada imposed no hierarchy between “minimal and opulent” — or whether the clothes were pristine or damaged.
Prada show sets always wrongfoot you, disconnected to the music you eventually hear, and the clothes you see.
“It’s a lot about the freedom to be inspired and to bring things together that feel contemporary to us,” Simons said, sipping on a small bottle of Coca-Cola.
Continuous change? Freewheeling inspiration? Layers of surprise? Bring it on! But please, hold the mess!
