Prada A/W 2020 Milan Fashion Week Women's

Scene setting: The show set was designed in the same layout as Prada’s A/W 2020 menswear show last month. Guests entered the Deposito space at the OMA-designed Prada Foundation, and sat on raised rectangular seating, which looked down into two Italianate piazzas. There, lilac retro blooms and squiggly lines were tessellated across wallpaper, which was bisected by rows of open entrances. In each of the courtyard’s centre stood an abstract version of the mythological Greek Titan — who was condemned to carry the heavens on his shoulders — rendered in flat interlocking planes.

Moodboard: ‘Tools of glamour’, was how Mrs Prada described the pieces in her brand’s A/W 2020 collection, which featured traditionally frivolous adornments, from flapper fringing to dense beading, designed to celebrate femininity, not smother it. It’s a mindset also echoed on the Fendi catwalk just hours later. An opening look featured a classic camel blazer, cinched to flatter the form, and a calf skimmed skirt with slashed pleats, which sensually displayed the movement and body of its wearer. Grey skirt suits were paired with retro patterned shirting, 20s flapper dresses in lilac and sorbet yellow were strewn with beads and tassels, and an overcoat swished with fringes. Taking the concept of the conventionally glamorous fur coat, Prada reinterpreted it for everyday in the form of a padded nylon or vinyl style, and created ‘uniforms of beauty’ with sportswear staples like long vests, imagined in seductive transparent fabrics, and fronds of beading.

Finishing touches: Mrs Prada layered up the items that defined her glamorous lexicon. Pastel shirts and ties were styled under beaded wool dress with snipped pleats and Prada Linea Rossa sweaters were layered over polo necks and gauzy airtech skirts. The strongest interplay of materials was seen in gauzy sheer dresses and pyjamas, which were teamed with thick ribbed tights in purple, cornflower and grey. Seemingly frivolous adornments — like pill box minaudière, which featured as necklace pendants and tasseled Mary Janes — had a feminine force.