Mood board: The 1970s loomed large as Miuccia Prada pulled together a heavy-on-the-corduroy collection. The scene was set by the first mountainously-bearded model, who entered against a cosy pleather bedroom set. Cords have never looked better in menswear as Mrs Prada played with the ribbing from extra large to pin thin, using them on oversized flood pants, snug jackets, piped blazers and outerwear. Also from the loungewear lizard era were sweeping, leather belted trench coats, styled with leather berets, worn off-kilter to give them a new slant, and fluffy fur belts.
Best in show: Best of all was the outerwear, an area in which this company consistently twists, turns and excels. This season we got beefy wool coats with multiple fur pockets, hairy, fury patchwork coats as well as corduroy anoraks with wooly shearling linings.
Finishing touches: A thick vein of counter-culture, not to mention basic old hippiedom, pulsed through the rebel accessories in this collection. Everything got happily twisted this season. Jewellery became a nautical bounty of seashells and furry amulets dangling from necks. Classic shiny loafers were spiced up with fluffy fur tassels. Fuzzy wallaby lace up shoes were Prada-ised with mounds of colorful hairy fur or in long brown deerskin. What did long thick fishermen’s knit scarves roped around the necks have to do with any of it? Probably nothing, but we loved it anyway.
