Fear and tension were on Miuccia Prada’s mind while she worked on the Miu Miu fall 2025 collection that debuted at Paris Fashion Week on March 11. The designer sent out an assemblage of huge gold brooches, layered-up gilded bracelets, glimmering tennis necklaces, and chunky little fur shrugs with pointy, perky cone bras under sweaters and peeking out of tops. It was all very ladylike, but done through the female gaze, which Mrs. Prada always executes flawlessly at Miu Miu.
“The collection was about femininity and the idea of doing femininity in this difficult moment to lift us up,” Mrs. Prada said backstage after the show. She aimed for the clothing to “help in difficult moments, during really dangerous times, war times,” she added.
The garments, Mrs. Prada explained, were particularly modest. Brooches served as the cornerstone accessory for many of the looks, and curves and the careful manipulation of form were everywhere. Layers were peeled back to elongate the shoulders. Furs came ultra-rounded, boxy, and chubby. Coats had surreal structures: baggy on top, tight at the waist, or pulled back, they created new ideologies of what outerwear can look like. The addition of the cone bras was one of the most important ways Mrs. Prada created thought-provoking shapes. Through the screen, it’s difficult to see the influence, but in person, especially from the side, they caused the models’ silhouettes to truly shapeshift. “All the girls are excited. It’s like a new fashion,” Mrs. Prada told W of the bras.
Decked out in yellow moiré fabric (to match the show invitation, natch) the typically spacious venue of Palais D’Iena was compacted into a narrow runway with custom bleachers and mismatched wooden chair backs installed in some seats. Such a tightly packed setup made the clothing pop. Pale silk dresses were styled with thigh-high wool socks, large fur stoles thrown over the arm, and top-handle bags. The color palette of muted mustard, dark olive, and burnt sienna with bright royal purples and acid and seafoam greens also had an old-world feel. Statement outerwear and suiting was taken to new levels with inventive fits that were inverted and reinvented in a way that only Miu Miu can do.
Round, sculptural hats topped off the maximalist mode of dressing. “There is a sense of tension and anxiety today, and of fear,” Mrs. Prada explained. “This season, we wanted to create an elegance with nothing—through the everyday, through direct manipulations of simple pieces. These are combined with bold gestures of the feminine—jewels, furs—that elevate, that give importance and value and complexity to every look.” Dressing up is an obvious way to bring joy, especially at this moment. And in trying times for women globally, dressing overtly feminine for the female gaze might just be the most powerful thing one can do when it comes to making style statements.
