Sweet and Sour: Prada Fall 2015
Miuccia Prada is once again toying with the ugly-vs-pretty paradox — perfect in its unanswerability — that she’s built her empire on. The tension therein is what fuels her, and what fueled the sweet-and-sour fall collection. Pretty pinks were so pink as to cause tooth decay; a chartreuse shade of green alternated between sweetgrass and ectoplasm; vertical strips of fur were applied on the front of jackets, clearly intended to jar on the eye; and jeweled brooches on lapels took the exaggerated shape of twigs.
And the materials, there was something not quite right about them. Resembling neoprene or pressed foam, they glistened eerily, not to mention the ostrich leather — loads of it. With those bumps, is always a little disturbing. But the most curious element of all had to be the stylized splash print that evoked both nourishing water and digital artifice. Long ago Prada stopped asking whether or not things ‘go’ together or ‘match.’ The answer doesn’t matter; attracting attention does. The outlier is always in.
