The Swingin' Sixties of Miu Miu

Miu Miu is the most anticipated show of Paris Fashion Week and the hottest brand of the year for one reason: starting from the SS22 show during which an entire generation saw God in the form of a cropped set, Miuccia Prada's brand has succeeded like no other in telling the present. And not telling it in its problems, doubts, or conflicts, but in its tastes, interests, in its zeitgeist - which is ironic considering how the FW24 show of the brand just held in Paris seems to reminisce the 60s in the coats, pearls, shirt dresses, boat necklines, and balloon skirts that were actually first conceived by Balenciaga in '58. The idea is to create an "ideal" wardrobe that reconstructs a person's life in its various stages from childhood clothes, which refer to the past in construction and snug fit, to those of adulthood that seem to refer to subsequent decades. And if Mrs. Prada's passion for certain vintage models is well known and even better documented, one should not believe that this show was an ode to vintage, on the contrary. Contemporary and démodé found themselves elbow to elbow on the catwalk more than once: one of the looks mixes a skirt with a gray fleece jacket worn under a puffer cut like an aviator jacket; the very short jackets in some cases let a blouse fall to thigh height creating that effect of peplum tops from the early 2000s, echoed in a set of very tight and low-rise denim that is a rather subtle nod to the Indie Sleaze era.

Those of Miu Miu are quite post-modern Sixties, therefore, rethought and disciplined in shapes and colors and above all deprived of their original naivety to assume a more deliberate attitude. A point of view that makes one recognize, among the different looks, also a strong vein of the 90s which materializes in the controlled color palette, in the severe demeanor of jackets and shirts, and in the jet-black sunglasses. The juxtaposition of garments from different eras and destinations aims to represent the tension between the past and the present that exists in everyone's memory: we dress as adults with tastes acquired as children. The Miu Miu woman (we cannot speak of a mere "girl", especially since the runway was graced by the legendary Kristin Scott-Thomas this year as well as Angela Molina and other more mature models) is rebellious but comfortable: even if her outfit rests on the classic bourgeois tropes of dressing, there is always an element that breaks and enlivens the order, as in this case the goalkeeper boots and gloves worn with skirts and suits or the disheveled collar of the shirt peeking out from the coat in a spill of pearls; but the opposite case occurs, namely, a more sporty or subdued outfit finds its flair in a more elegant element like fur.

Elsewhere, the game is played on the length of the jackets: the very short ones are decorative elements for the alternation of colors and textures they offer together with the bottoms and underlying shirts; the semi-long ones become a kind of cocktail dress from which legs wrapped in colored tights emerge. There are also delightfully crumpled champagne-colored satin sheath dresses, whose lightness contrasts with gloves, scarves, and glasses, which almost represent the kind of strength that comes from protection; and playful touches both in the black sheath dresses, where a cut-out opens just above the buttocks, and in the pants sewn in the same cotton poplin as the shirts, becoming a kind of mixture of uniform or pajamas whose generous proportions suggest the cool practicality of those who choose a functional minimalism for their outfits and let accessories speak of creativity. Many elements that simultaneously coexist in each person's personal dimension just as childhood memories and adult awareness resonate within each of us - the common thread of identity unites them all.