Ooh baby, Prada likes its glamour raw

Prada is a house that’s always pushed back against the idea of perfection, turning its back against ‘pretty’ and turning out clothes that would far more likely fall into the ‘pretty ugly’ category – there’s a reason hefty orthopaedic shoes and gross colour palettes have become so popular across the last decade or so, and it’s largely down to Mrs P’s influence.

This season, at Prada’s AW25 show in Milan, Miuccia and Raf really knuckled down on this sentiment, telling the scrum backstage that they were essentially sick of our nipped, tucked, and tweaked reality, and the faces filtered to within an inch of their lives that dominate the feed, and wanted to offer up a riposte. “What about some Raw Glamour?” they asked, and subsequently decided that that would actually be a good name for their latest collection.

Out came a cast of girls – led by longtime Prada girlie Julia Nobis – whose hair was all over the place, awkwardly tucked into collars and gaudy jewel necklaces, flyaways zig-zagging off everywhere, whose little wire-rimmed glasses perched nerdily on the end of their noses, and whose delicate, pointed features stood in direct opposition to the pumped, plumped ‘Instagram face’ aesthetic that’s become our norm.

The clothes themselves rejected the reigning body-con ideal designed to put all assets on show, offering a more roomy, blown-up silhouette than we’ve seen in recent seasons. Most evident of this were three sun-faded smock-y sack dresses in 60s floral prints, as well as a series of louche wool trousers and skirts with exaggerated paper bag waists. Car coats in herringbone and shiny leather came with skew-whiff faux fur collars, while a standout blazer was patched together using contrasting scraps, further pushing the idea that imperfection is perfection at Prada.

Continuing the conversation backstage, Mrs P also pointed to the bleak times we’re living through right now, telling the crowd that it’s hard not to want to off yourself every time you turn on the news. “We are in a very black moment,” she explained. “It is not my job to be political, but whenever you open a newspaper, oh my God! My job is to think about what women can wear. About what kind of femininity makes sense in a moment like this.”

With the tide turning against algorithmic dressing and a pushback against the constant trend churn picking up pace, there’s a big conversation about a return to personal style and rejecting what’s being pushed down our throats by influencers up and down the Instagram feed. Essentially, this collection bolstered that. It’s time to put down the phone, stop comparing yourself to the impossible standards prevalent on social media, and instead find the beauty in doing your own thing.