You didn't need to wait for the opening track – Björk's "Army of Me" – to morph into Madonna's "Bedtime Story" (written by Björk, Nellee Hooper and Marius De Vries) with its refrain about "Traveling, traveling, in the arms of unconsciousness", to spot the main inspirations for Miuccia Prada's men's collection for the Spring/Summer 2017 season and the Resort 2017 collection for women.
All models energetically walking down the metal-mesh ramp carried indeed backpacks and wore comfortable sandals with colourful straps matched with socks.
Designs included light nylon parkas, windbreakers and rain pants for men, and nylon dresses and tunics for women, that could be sculpted into bubble-like forms via drawstrings toggle hems.
Bright graphic checks and stripes, prints of Buddhas, pineapples, pyramids, palms, bananas and sombreros introduced a tropical fun note in shirts and bags.
Yet in their micro-version with tiny turtles, elephants and palms printed on vivid backgrounds, they clearly pointed towards the mid-to-late '80s and in particular towards an Italian brand that at the time was a fashion obsession with many girls (especially Milanese paninari girls…), Naj-Oleari with its accessories, notebooks and sweats covered in tiny cute graphic motifs of frogs, palms and dogs (View this photo).
One particular dress, an orange number with tiny elephants and a random ribbon on the right shoulder, seemed to be a Naj-Oleari vision from 1989 returning in its updated 2.0 version.
At times Prada-isms such as puzzling combinations of utilitarian clothes, printed shirts with sunny sombreros and embarrassingly ugly wool sweaters and gilets appeared on the runway.
Genderless was the key when it came to the rucksacks, and the footwear that included Teva-like sandals and boots that looked like crossovers between scuba diving socks and Teva sandals with that touch of kawaii added (see the flowers on the plastic sole).
While Teva have a utility patent (U.S patent #4,793,075 granted to Mark Thatcher for a "Sport sandal for active wear"; the patent was assigned in 1988, and relates to how the company's sandal "functions to fit"), Miuccia may escape copyright infringement accusations in this case as her sandals, though clearly based on the tether strap system of the original Teva sandals, seem to have slightly different anchorage points.
There were also brogues for men and high heels for women, dangling from backpacks, together with bags of all shapes and sizes (a clever trick to show and sell people more than one accessory in just one look).
Jewellery was replaced by thin torches dangling from the neck like precious ornaments (to be maybe used to shed some light on the future of fashion?) and earrings that looked like metallic gold, turquoise or fuchsia stereo jack plugs severed from cables and embellished with faux crystals.
The models on the runway may have represented young people trekking to exotic locations on their gap year, living out of their rucksacks in overcrowded hostels.
Maybe they were also the embodiment of the designer's passion for mixing, matching and remixing cultures, differences and ideas, something that prompted her to mention Google Earth among her influences and inspirations (the jacket and dress with the thermal-imaging maps was actually a take on the Google Earth pics representing various parts of the world).
But maybe Miuccia was extending the migrant crisis theme she tackled in her previous menswear collection, and hinting therefore at people travelling with their house and their culture on their shoulders or literally "wearing" their houses/tents (a concept that may prompt you to think about Professor Helen Storey's "Dress For Our Time" consisting in a billowing gown-cum-cape made with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees tent).
But we must highlight one main difference: the models on Prada's runway represented luxury – rather than ordinary – hikers, festival goers/ravers, or travellers, their clothes and uniform-like suits (also included in the collection and juxtaposed to the more sporty pieces) were indeed impeccably spotless as if to remind us that this is active wear with status for those who can afford it.
Another influence you could have mentioned in connection with these design is definitely architecture: recent projects at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice pointed towards movable structures that can provide instant solutions to long-term problems and Miuccia follows art and architecture, so at some point they must have entered her mind.
At the same time, the final reason that pushed the designer to opt for such themes, materials and moods may have been less conceptual and less practical, but concerning just the present.
Fearful about an unstable financial (profits released in April were down more than 26%) and fashion future, the company reshifted the attention on today rather than tomorrow, and on colourfully optimistic prints and accessories such as imitation survival bracelets.
After all, survival for Prada is not in the clothes as proved yesterday afternoon when catwalk show guests got the chance to try La Femme Prada and L'Homme Prada, the new scents arriving in stores this week. They reminded guests that you can put the most extraordinary collection on the runway, but, in the end, it's categories such as accessories and fragrances that make money for those brands big enough to have them in their portfolios.
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