Prada
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MILAN, February 24, 2011
By Tim Blanks
Miuccia Prada's often impenetrable thought processes were more naked than usual this season. She wanted to perform a perverse/reverse alchemy: Take the clichés of worldly female glamour—sequins, snakeskin, fur, the color pink—and make them innocent again. After the show, she harked back to her lace collection of Fall 2008. "I'm curious about women," she said. "I want to challenge their passion."A year ago, Miuccia was exalting the womanly form at its shapeliest. Here, she opted for the dropped-waist, straight-up-and-down silhouette of the twenties flapper—or the sixties dolly bird. Wide belts were slung low over big-buttoned coat-dresses or sheer shifts. Given that both the aforementioned decades were periods of female emancipation, it was hard to take Prada to task for a potential retreat to the elevation of—what would be for most of her customers—unattainable girlishness. Besides, she referenced her beloved Saint Laurent with a block print evoking his Mondrian dress from 1965, a piece that is, forever and always, the quintessence of fashion modernism. And, on top of that, the collection danced gleefully around those adult elements of desirability that Miuccia has made her own—bags and shoes. Especially noteworthy were the latter, including boots offered in a killer trompe l'oeil combo of high heel and knee-high, particularly provocative in python.
Python was also cut into cocoonlike twenties-style coats with big fur lapels. The reptile angle was pursued with a series of outfits coated with huge plastic scales. But were the girls serpents or mermaids? It was the kind of question that leaves a Prada audience uncertain about spontaneous responses. "Let me sleep on it," say the flummoxed journalists as they leave a show. Whatever, today's finale flourish was a gorgeous effect that perfectly encapsulated Miuccia's intended aim of innocent glamour. Let's plump for mermaids.
A footnote: At Prada there is always at least one element that doesn't quite gel. Here, it was the way the models clutched their bags tightly to their chests. Ladylike might be one interpretation. Shields could be another. That's food for thought for the next collection.
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Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear
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Edun Elie Saab Elie Tahari Elise Øverland Emanuel Ungaro Emilio de la Morena Emilio Pucci Emporio Armani Erdem Erin Fetherston Etro -
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Farah Angsana Fashion East Felder Felder Felipe Oliveira Baptista Fendi Francesco Scognamiglio Frank Tell -
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Gabriele Colangelo Gap Gareth Pugh Gary Graham Giambattista Valli Gianfranco Ferré Giles Giorgio Armani Givenchy Graeme Armour Gregory Parkinson G-Star Gucci -
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Haider Ackermann Hakaan Halston Helmut Lang Hermès Hervé Léger by Max Azria Holly Fulton House of Holland -
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Iceberg Imitation of Christ Isaac Mizrahi Isabel Marant Issa Issey Miyake -
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Karen Walker Kelly Wearstler Kenzo Kevork Kiledjian Kimberly Ovitz Kinder Aggugini -
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L.A.M.B. L'Wren Scott Lanvin Lela Rose Libertine Limi Feu Loewe Louise Gray Louis Vuitton Luca Luca Luisa Beccaria Lyn Devon -
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Naeem Khan NAHM Nanette Lepore Narciso Rodriguez Neil Barrett Nicholas K Nicolas Andreas Taralis Nicole Farhi Nicole Miller Nina Ricci No. 21 Norma Kamali -
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Ohne Titel Organic by John Patrick Oscar de la Renta Osman -
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Paul & Joe Paul Smith Pedro Lourenço Peter Jensen Peter Pilotto Peter Som Philosophy Piazza Sempione Ports 1961 PPQ Prabal Gurung Prada Preen Pringle of Scotland Proenza Schouler -
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Sacai Sachin + Babi Salvatore Ferragamo Sass & Bide Sharon Wauchob Sonia Rykiel Sophie Theallet Sportmax St. John Stella McCartney Stephen Burrows Steven Alan Suno -
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Undercover United Bamboo -
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Valentino Vanessa Bruno Vena Cava Vera Wang Véronique Leroy Versace Versus Victoria Beckham Viktor & Rolf Vionnet Vivienne Tam Vivienne Westwood Vivienne Westwood Red Label VPL -
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Wayne Wes Gordon Willow -
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Y-3 Yigal Azrouël Yohji Yamamoto Yves Saint Laurent -
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Zac Posen Zero + Maria Cornejo Z Spoke by Zac Posen
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