Prada’s ode to the skirt, sensuality as seen by Diesel

Milan Fashion Week – Spring/Summer 2027 – kicked off yesterday at Prada with a medley of skirts: sixty-three in total, almost all knee-length but with a flowy silhouette, wrap-style, fastened with Velcro, ready to slip down and, ultimately, not particularly demure, even when they provided full coverage.

The narrowing of the creative scope and the restriction of opportunities for invention to flourish are classic Prada tropes: one particularly memorable example, then, was a collection made entirely of lace. Today, Miuccia Prada and her creative partner Raf Simons are focusing on the skirt – a garment so emblematic of the brand’s aesthetic that it has earned its own travelling exhibition, ‘Waist Down’, which has been evolving continuously since 2004. ‘We were fascinated by the idea of the skirt as an object, by the possibility of combining ideas and discussing differences and complexities through individual garments. Every skirt can be completely reinvented by the wearer,” says the lady. Simons adds: “Eccentricity, shape, embellishments: there is something timeless about the stylistic language of Prada skirts. The paradoxical timelessness of these seasonal ideas is an aspect which, whilst we didn’t say so explicitly, interested us greatly.”

Of course, it’s not just about skirts, but it’s always the bottoms that grab the eye with their array of fabrics and embellishments, whilst the tops fade into the background somewhat. The single-collection catwalk is convincing, but only to a certain extent. The theory sounds better than the practice, which instead has a somewhat retrospective and formulaic feel to it – creatively safe despite the unrestrained experimentation. Prada works best when it unsettles, when it ventures into uncomfortable territory.

The celebration of love, as urgently stripped of the embrace as it is liberating, by Diesel. As announced in recent days by the OTB Group, Glenn Martens is stepping down – to devote himself solely to the creative direction of Maison Margiela – and he does so with a ‘best of’ collection featuring crinkles, slits, distressed effects and imperfections; in short, clothes to be quickly shed so you can make love for hours on end. Sex sells, and Martens’ take on it is sweaty and textured. An important chapter in the brand’s history comes to a close with a bang.