Review of Miu Miu Fall 2023 Fashion Show
Miu Miu Schools Us on the Acts of Observation and Provocation
By Angela Baidoo
As a way to focus the eye, and aid in the act of observation, Miu Miu’s fall collection took place at the Palais d’Iena with models walking on a raised runway, all the better to clearly see the clothes and decipher this seasons back-to-business approach to everyday dressing.
Imploring the viewer to have and take a point of view, Miu Miu – as one of the last few shows to close Paris Fashion Week – always bring their A-game when it comes to the extraction of thought-provoking ideas through the medium of silhouettes which always defy expectations. Considering design as an active process – perhaps between the wearer and what is being worn – workmanship was used as a tool to transform everyday silhouettes into entirely new concepts by Miuccia Prada. Stating that spending time looking, and finding new ways to look will open up a new “window to thinking”, according to the designer.
Workmanship is a tool to transform perception: proportions are altered through design and cut, shapes
exaggerated, fabrics layered and fused to affect the rapport of garments with the body.
Miuccia Prada, Creative Director, Miu Miu
What was observed this season was your typical jacket silhouette, which in the hands of Prada was reworked into structures which stood away from the body in spongey textures, corduroy, or fur. 1950s-esque twinsets and pencil skirts looked to have come straight from secretarial school, but were subverted through sheer layering. Polka-dotted skirts came with an extreme low-rise waist, worn over high-waisted stockings, offering an off-kilter take on the ladylike look.
Navigating the changed landscape that the world of work now inhabits, Prada cleverly offers up a vintage version of the feminine uniform from an era of nipped-in waists and buttoned-up knits. But this being Miu Miu there were also leather ultra-mini dresses, sparkly panties, and the keenest example of Mrs Prada demonstrating her design pedigree with a set of four skirt and shorts co-ords in a heavy knitted rib fabric, which exaggerated the proportions of the rib. As outlined in today’s show notes “proportions are altered through design and cut, shapes exaggerated, fabrics layered and fused”. Simply through changing the dimensions a new “materialization emerged” which in turn “actively change how outfits are visually read”.
This retro rethinking brushed up against a deftly produced mid-section of off-duty looks that many a mid-market retailer would kill to discover the formula for. As oversized neoprene hoodies worn under tailored peacoats with grey marl leggings will continue to elevate the brands Athletic Wear category further, especially with the ongoing partnership with New balance which birthed the New Balance x Miu Miu 574 sneakers. The styling of looks from then and now is also an acknowledgment of the way in which work and downtime are merging, so the consumer requires a brand that can do both. A Hoodie dress for a morning workout can then be layered with a camel coat and peep-toe pumps for a 12pm lunch meeting, without missing a beat.
The transparent allure of chiffon was a key fabrication used for fall, affording the designer the opportunity to play with layering, using the fabric as a window to play with what normally lays beneath, and in effect hidden away. With polka dots and 3D florals purposefully offering only a modicum of covering.
The transparent allure of chiffon was a key fabrication used for fall, affording the designer the opportunity to play with what normally lays beneath, and in effect hidden away
The choice of today’s set design was the result of a special project with artist Geumhyung Jeong, whose work encompasses performance, dance, choreography, theatre, video, and installation. Developing a short video which was teased across social media showed the artist interacting with clothes from the brand in slow movements in order to create an interaction between her animated body and the inanimate nature of clothes. Her work has often taken the form of raised platforms which are displayed with puppets, mannequins, or machines, but here those raised platforms were the stage for the exploration of an observation of the female body and its relationship to clothing, which in the world of Miu Miu, is anything but mechanical.