Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2026
With Ashley Brokaw’s multidisciplinary lineup, Miuccia Prada proves how powerfully a cast can transform a runway
By Kenneth Richard
Fashion has always danced with the arts, but at Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2026 the two seemed to leap into each other’s arms. Miuccia Prada, ever drawn to character over surface, filled the runway with people whose own creative lives vibrate just as loudly as the clothes. Under Ashley Brokaw’s casting, actors, musicians, choreographers, artists, and beautifully unclassifiable figures moved through the Palais d’Iéna not as embellishment, but as extensions of the collection’s ideas. This wasn’t a starry stunt; it was a reminder of how fully a cast can shape a show – how it can shift the room, heighten the narrative, and turn a runway into a cultural moment rather than a sequence of exits.
The theme this season — the visibility and value of women’s work — unfolded across a surreal landscape of Formica tables, charting the space between domestic instinct and industrial precision. But it was the people inside this world who animated it. Billy Barratt (actor), Sateen Besson (singer), Towa Bird (musician), Daniel Blumberg (musician and composer), Michella Bredahl (photographer), Anya Chalotra (actor), Richard E. Grant (actor), Rila Fukushima (actor), Hailey Gates (actor and director), Florentina Holzinger (choreographer and artist), Sandra Hüller (actor), Milla Jovovich (actor), Suzanne Lindon (actor), Cortisa Star (musician), Celia Rowlson Hall (choreographer and director), Eva Yelmani (actor), and Phew (singer and sound artist) formed a cast that felt less like a runway lineup and more like a small, improbable festival. Each brought their own creative logic, their own rhythm. A Sandra Hüller stride is different from a Milla Jovovich glance; a Florentina Holzinger appearance shifts the room’s center of gravity; Phew vibrates at her own frequency entirely. Together, they widened the show’s emotional register.
And this is where Miu Miu excels: using casting not as ornament but as narrative force. Most houses still treat casting as a minor variable, a nod toward relevance or reach. Prada and Brokaw treat it as world-building. These figures made the collection feel inhabited, not presented – lived-in rather than performed. Their presence didn’t overshadow the clothes; it awakened them, offering context, contradiction, humor, even friction. The return on this kind of casting is enormous, and yet so few brands attempt it.
Grounding all this were the models, whose discipline and clarity provided the through-line the cast could play against. Alaato Jazyper, Aleksandr Gordeev, Alix Bouthors, Amelie Sante, Anipha Umufite, Betsy Gaghan, Binx Walton, Charlotte Boggia, Charlotte Eta Mumm, Chloe Paredes, Dru Campbell, Ella Dalton, Elody Francois, Fatou Kebbeh, George Anderson, Glorianny Saint Fleur, Haojie Qi, Jessie Craig, Jiahui Zhang, Josh Habib, Karolin Wolter, Kris Krystal, Larissa Moraes, Liu Wen, Loli Bahia, Lorenny Castillo, Matilde Lucidi, Mayowa Adagunduro, Micklate Macobola, Mila Carrasco, Nino Pereira, Noor Khan, Peris Adolwi, Ploy Chobsawang, Rachel Agbonze, Saar Mansvelt Beck who closed the show, Sanique Dill, Sasha Krivko, Sen Samysheva, Song Ah Woo, Stef Bonomo, Xiao Wen Ju, Xiaohan Chen, Yuliana Perez, and Yura Romaniuk delivered the pace and structure that kept the performance from tipping into chaos. Their presence underscored a truth: a cast’s eccentricity works best when anchored by models who can hold the center.
In a season crowded with ambitious gestures, Miu Miu’s stood apart because it was smarter. The show reminded the industry of something essential: when you cast people with real creative lives – people who think, question, react – the runway becomes charged with possibility. It feels less like a closed system and more like a conversation.
That is why Miu Miu earns the title of Best Cast Show of 2025. It demonstrates how expansive, human, and culturally alive a runway can feel when the people in it matter just as much as the clothes.
