Miuccia's Power Script: Prada Menswear A/W 2012-13

Miuccia Prada is obviously an evil genius with a great knowledge not of fashion history, but of financial markets.

A woman with an extensive film collection, in the past she has cleverly scattered her cinematic references in various collections, managing to resell us looks from the '40s in new glamorous packages.

For her A/W 2012-13 menswear collection she changed strategy, though, and, rather than hiding cryptic film clues in her clothes, she hid the latter behind real film stars.

Days before the catwalk took place, rumours already circulated on the Internet about famous Hollywood actors modelling during Prada's menswear show on Sunday evening.

The catwalk was almost going to start when Twitter was ablaze with all the names of actors - Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Emile Hirsch, Garrett Hedlund, Willem Dafoe, Alexandre and Victor Carril, Adrien Brody and Jamie Bell - who, for once, wouldn't be walking the red carpet but the runway.

Meanwhile, in another country and another time zone, Prada was dressing the nominees and presenters of the 69th Golden Globe Awards, including Zooey Deschanel, Freida Pinto, Channing Tatum, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. In a nutshell, two well-staged coups de théatre.

At the press conference that preceded the show Miuccia Prada annoounced this was a parody of male power and while everybody else got stuck in the Jazz Age and is playing at The Great Gatsby even before Baz Luhrmann releases it, she went the other way remixing Eiko Ishioka's costumes for Bram Stoker's Dracula (check out the red-lensed sunglasses) with moods from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and wrapping everything in the yellow pages of Italian '60s tailoring magazine Vestire.

Miuccia thought that men with power - temporal, political, social and sexual - dress to proclaim their position.

During the show power was suggested in two ways: through the severe cut of the garments and of the double-breasted suits, the stiff high-collar shirts, luxury details such as astrakhan-collars, and guitar, gun, crown and rugby ball pins and badges used as decorations, and through the layered look devised to project and protect the wearer's superiority.

Turtlenecks, shirts, waistcoats, jackets and belted coats were piled one upon the other while shoes were covered in an extra double layer of rubber, conferring confidence, but also a certain rigidity to the wearers strolling on the huge red carpet that covered the floor (set design by OMA/AMO).

The main idea was presenting a series of men, from dictators to dandies, spies and generals, though there was also a touch of irony and the tangible proof that - as usual - Miuccia was taking the piss out of the fashion world.

Pinstripe garments were indeed made out of denim, the tie around the neck was actually a turtleneck and what looked like a vintage '60s print from afar was actually an optical print of cameos portraying dandies in top hats, Native Americans, Roman soldiers in their helmets and guns.

In a way, you could have summarised this display of masterful males by looking at it as an updated and modern version of Frans Hals' painting "The Meagre Company" with the supposedly powerful yet vain officers of the Amsterdam Crossbow Civic looking in love with their clothes.

Indeed, while fashion and power always went very well together, there was one main problem with this display of power.

Though immaculately tailored, the collection was eclipsed at times by the actors wearing it and at a certain point the focus was on guessing who was going to be the next actor walking down the runway – pardon, strolling down the massive carpet covering the floor of the venue – rather than about the clothes he was wearing (people may remember Gary Oldman in his rigid black coat and Brody in a rich red coat with two tone fur collar, but how many will be able to describe in detail the rest of the collection?)

So, while this was a parody for male power (that interesting enough didn't make any reference to social tensions and social classes...), it was also a metaphor for something else: deep down it showed that this is what money, financial stability and banks can afford you nowadays (don't tell us that such a stellar cast came for free...).

Indeed in all this grand display of power there was a bitter note: if fashion is about power, money and showing off how well connected you are, the garments are secondary and the industry is not about talent.

Is this the real future of fashion - actors on the runway, less attention to the real clothes and more to the faces of the wearer? If this is truly a glimpse of the future, young designers who dream of dressing people for the joy of it (yet, how many of them are left now in a sad world focused on dressing Lady Gaga & Co?) may as well find themselves another job. The fashion industry is definitely not for them anymore.

PS A final note for the Italian government: send Miuccia Prada to work for rating agency Standard and Poor's. She seems to be the only one at the moment able to make people believe everything is fine and glamorous in Italy and in the fashion industry...

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Comments

[2 button vested suits]

That is one of the best suit that I saw today! I'm looking forward to seeing my Dad wearing that kind of suit. Anyways, glad I found your awesome blog. Thanks for sharing.

[freelance writers]

Fabulous!! Every single one of them is just great.

[トリーバーチシューズ]

トリーバーチ シューズは表面に主張する大きなTロゴが施され、存在感において申し分なし、履いてるとどんな長時間歩いても平気、全然疲れない。素晴らしいデザインが清純感を倍増して、ファンション性がたっぷり溢れて、この夏で大活躍できそうな逸品です。トリーバーチ サンダルはオシャレと高級感兼ね揃えて、女性にとってピッタリのサンダルは必要不可欠、熱い太陽と対抗し、爽やかな感じをもたらす。