Miu Miu, a little-awaited moment to imagine the version of the woman in disguise for the long-gone ‘Uta de Ballenstedt’. However, will Miuccia serve us? The front row was filled with a cheerful kermesse, from a cowgirl in a swimming costume to an army of schoolgirls in pleated skirts ready for their first Manga playground.
But this season, the retro woman is back, with her hair ‘brushed’ like a Manniatis salon, granny pins and underwired bras sculpting the silhouette as if the 1950s were the new Madmen cool. The return of the good old conical bra, an icon of exaggerated femininity, revived in the 80s by Madonna and ‘Jean Paul Gaulé’, already copied from Elsa Schiaparelli, and today by Millennials fascinated by everything that preceded their birth. Nothing’s the same as it used to be! Nor afterwards.
Of course, one might ask: why put yourself in this oppressive armour again at a time when women’s rights are being undermined? But let’s not be a killjoy. Young people are crazy about vintage, from skirt suits to clip-on earrings and the fashionable ‘tradwife’ trend. As one designer I met this week said, in despair over her nostalgic offspring: ‘Everything my children wear is vintage’. Well, as long as they don’t ask for a chastity belt, everything’s fine.
In any case, the figures speak for themselves: the schoolgirl mini-skirt, the tube top and the eternal student’s moccasins have propelled Miu Miu to financial heights. So there’s no doubt that these pointy bras will soon be selling faster than croissants on a Sunday morning. Prada itself, backstage, has likened the current era to war (no less), explaining that ‘we need femininity to lift us up’. Visionary or unashamed sarcasm?
The cast was a melting-pot of the zeitgeist, with Gigi Hadid and Sarah Paulson as back-up, and a minimalist décor, with lemon-yellow walls and a provincial three-star hotel soundtrack. On the catwalk, women of the past revisited: tailored pin-up coats, off-the-shoulder lingerie dresses, impeccable tailoring, and of course, the return of high socks worn with heels, because why not!
