Prada AW14

Initial reaction:

Perverted suiting. A boy from the wrong side of the tracks, dressing up his side-stripe tracksuit bottoms and orthopaedic trainers with a pimp fur coat and a square-ended tie, haphazardly thrown around the neck. A strange and odd elegance.

Reminded us of:

If anyone needed a reminder of Miuccia Prada's powerful ability to make the familiar seem completely unfamiliar, this was it. With Prada, references are always criss-crossed and brilliantly murky, pushing the easily identifiable towards something much more hazy and intriguing. Here, there were whiffs of Weimar Republic – underscored by the cabaret-style music – but currents of ugly-chic seventies porn vibes, eighties sportswear and workwear also ebbed and flowed back and forth across the runway, transforming the banal into something beautiful.

Girl action:

In their buttery-soft seventies-ish leather dresses, totally see-through skirts and Tibetan lamb stoles, it was hard to tell whether the girls that accompanied the Prada boys were giving a nod to cabaret or exquisitely dressed streetwalkers. But whatever it was, it was hot. Bring on Prada women’s AW14.

Set:

This season, visionary architects and long-time Prada collaborators AMO placed guests at the centre of the fashion show spectacle. While the majority of people were seated around a one-meter high platform covered in insulation-felt - surrounded by industrial Thunderdome scaffolding - the rest of the audience (including us) and a live band sat in orchestra-like pockets placed inside the stage-like runway as part of the installation. It was all about the Prada pit – the coolest seats in the house.

Soundtrack: 

As complex as the collection itself. Concert group L’Usignolo performed pieces taken from Pina Bausch shows and Kurt Weill transcriptions live alongside a heady mix by Frédéric Sanchez, which included The Ballad of Sexual Obsession by Nina Hagen, Ben Frost’s dark and sexy Peter Venkman Pt. 1 Gluteus Maximus remix, and rock metal.