4. FASHION REPORT LANGUAGE 4.

Prada: Working Girl

By CATHY HORYN

"If Miuccia Prada’s spring men’s show, in June, led people astray with its “Menacing Paradise” theme, set in the tropics, her women’s collection on Thursday night in Milan was a slap in the face, Cher style. It put across a strong physical attitude, not merely a tough-girl snarl.That was partly to do with the sports elements, like sleeveless viscose knit dresses, ribbed leg warmers with varsity stripes, and Prada’s version of the web sandal (sure to be a summer hit). There were also cheerleading references in the box-pleated skirts and schoolgirlish coats, now freckled with colored stones and other Prada details that keep you engaged.And typically you wonder, “What’s up, Miuccia?”Not so much this time. The fabrics — wools, screen-printed silks, viscose knits — were classic Prada, as was the chunky embroidery on many of the shift and coat shapes. The big difference this season was the reproduction of various illustrations and paintings of women. The Prada show space has a display of murals, “In the Heart of the Multitude,” by muralists such as Gabriel Specter and Stinkfish, and illustrators like Jeanne Detallante. Among the themes these artists explored are femininity, multiplicity and power.And that was essentially the message Ms. Prada wanted to put across in her clothes. Strong women, fighting women. “It was a very personal collection for me,” she said backstage.The clothes ranged from relatively simple sportswear to lavish compositions of printed mink and embroidery on shifts or coats. To my eye, the viscose knits looked particularly fresh, and I liked the transparently muscular attitude. (Britney Spears’s “Work Bitch” was on the soundtrack.) Since Raf Simons used Brian Calvin’s paintings of women on T-shirts in his spring 2013 men’s collection, and Warhol’s 1950s shoe illustrations on bags in his fall 2013 Dior show, I was a bit surprised that Ms. Prada went with the idea of reproduced feminine portraits. They’re on bags, too.She does treat the images with the intensity of poster art, and then adds Prada symbolism. But apparently there is less and less time for ideas to settle and marinate before they’re taken up by someone else and attacked in a different way."this article can be found here.

1. SILHOUETTE/DESIGN

sleeveless viscose knit dresses

web sandal

school girlish coats

shift and coat shapes

2. DETAILS

box pleated skirts

ribbed leg warmers varsity stripes 

freckled with colored stones

chunky embroidery

3. COLOR

screen printed paintings

* no specific colors were mentioned by Ms. Horyn

4. FABRIC

wool

screen printed silks

viscose knit

printed mink

5. CREATIVE "JARGON"

schoolgirlish coats

freckled with colored stones

transparently muscular attitude

tough-girl

I liked Ms. Horyn's review on Prada's SS collection. She reviews this show in such detail as if you were sitting right next to her at the runway show. Also I like how you cannot tell if she loved or hated the show unless stated in the articles because she breaks down everything piece by piece. Cathy lets you know if she didn't like the music but did like the clothes. She could have explained the colors used in the show to give more detail to what she saw but other than that the article really puts in perspective how the Prada show was through her eyes.