Prada S/S 2018

Scene setting: As with menswear S/S 2018, the fashion set were once again invited into Prada’s comic book world, this time lined with colourful illustrations of women – some manga-style, others prismatic pop art figures. These were created by a series of female illustrators, both past and present, in a collection that emphasised the importance of female story telling, both on and around the catwalk. As the show began, models walked to a musical mash-up. from the thrashing guitar riffs of Nirvana, to Lana Del Rey, Sinead O’Connor, and Nina Simone.

Mood board: Like the show’s genre-spanning mixtape, Miuccia Prada presented a collection underpinned by eclectic references. While the label’s shows are always packed with codes and symbols, this collection erred towards punk and rockabilly, 1950s diners and deconstructed tailoring, plus a whole host of Prada-isms, like studded nylon bags, school girl socks and pointed kitten heels. There were coats embellished with leopard prints and DIY studs, fake tweed textures and newspaper comic strip prints, archive jacquard print bandeaus layered atop shirts, peacoats in laminate polka dots and flared fifties skirts. The silhouettes in Prada’s A/W 2017 offering – like flared cords and Baker Boy hats – nodded to Mrs Prada’s days as a student activist in the seventies. This season’s rebellion was punkier and harder.

Best in show: Prada’s comic book prints, part manga, part pop-art, were particularly engaging; these came patched or printed on coats, and tiled across studded shirts and handbags. A real page (and head) turner.