If I was going to review the Prada A/W 10-11 collection in a sensible and intelligent manner, I might make commentary on the the relationship between Miuccia's off-kilter/unpredictable sensibility and sex, the uneasy coexistence they share in Prada's melting pot but somehow, they managed to make peace with one another for a collection that retrogaded without being burdened too much by the past.
Instead though, I'm going to tell you a secret that will make you guffaw to no end. I'm going to tell you about how I was deeply unhappy at the age of 15-16 with my 'fried egg' flat chest. Despite any 'alternative/indie' notions that I thought I had in my head, at the end of the day, I confomrmed and contributed to the present day stats about teenagers being unhealthily unhappy with their bodies. A double AA cup was pretty depressing in PE changing rooms when everyone talked about annoying bra fits and I could only look sheepishly at my C&A crop top.
Let's not descend too far into bygone eras of teen angst though and get right to the point here. On the surface, I could have rejected this collection entirely on the basis that the 50s/60s shapes Prada was pimping out isn't my body's cup of char. However, despite the casting throwing in some 'fuller figured' girls into the Prada mix, the models seamlessly trooped out with 'curvy' not being the issue here. I've illustrated this with a lot of my slightly pervy side-boob shots that I took below but basically, with the help of Prada's tiered balconette ruffles, flat or full-chested needn't really matter. I could have fretted like I did back in the changing rooms but those ruffled chests quietened me down. If like me, you're never going to fill the pointy padded bras of the past, then a cluster of unabashed frilliness in signature Prada patternations around the chest is one of many solutions and a strangely refreshing one at that.
On a non-body shape note (feels odd to be writing about body issues in a post, no?), aesthetically speaking, of course the Mad Men references escaped nobody and it was good to see that with some outfits, Peggy Olsen and Joan Holloway were sort of battling it out sartorially-speaking. The chunky cable sweaters and skirts, the double collared jackets in patent and the front frilled socks seemed to be geeking out in harmony with the under-boob cut-out (my new favourite cut-out position), the painterly prints and the sashaying hips that some dresses (and the one pair of capri trousers) prompted.
I've been thinking about this first season where I'm going the full hog and doing all four weeks of fashion week and the way that I have happed onto the shows that were full throtal refreshing points - Marc Jacobs in New York, Christopher Kane in London and now Prada in Milan... it all reads like a blatantly obvious manuscript... but I'm not going to fight it. The good are good because they're well... good.
