As well as one of Paris Fashion Week’s most-coveted invites, the Miu Miu show has recently become a game of Where’s Wally thanks to Mrs Prada and her love of a cult catwalk cameo. Willem Dafoe closed out SS25’s show with a smouldering glare, former Dazed cover star Luther Ford pulled on some leather gloves for AW24, while Chloë Sevigny ruled the Resort runway back in 2018. Fast forward to today (October 6), and Mrs P has tapped iconic and Oscar-nominated actress Sandra Hüller to open her SS26 show.

Known for German-language films like Toni Erdmann, Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest, and that blistering monologue in Anatomy of a Fall, Hüller entered the Palais d’Iena show space in a navy carpenter’s apron, leather-trimmed chore coat, and a colourful cravat ever-so-slightly poking from underneath. Hüller’s usually blonde hair had been dyed a dark shade of chocolate brown, but for those who didn’t immediately recognise her, there were lots of famous faces to spot after that.

Following Hüller, fellow actor Richard E. Grant – known for star turns in Saltburn and Spice World: The Movie – appeared in a leather apron and knitted quarter zip, while current Dazed cover star Cortisa Star returned for a second season following her AW25 Miu Miu debut. Elsewhere, musician Towa Bird also returned after walking last season, Milla Jovovich wore a frilly version of the black leather apron, while composer Daniel Blumberg – who just won an Oscar for scoring The Brutalist – entranced the front row with an intense and piercing stare.

More generally, this season as a whole was inspired by “the importance of work” and its “significance, relevance and meaning.” Aptly titled At Work, the collection was described in show notes as “a consideration of the work of women, their challenges, adversity, experience.” After Hüller’s opening appearance, the show continued with more aprons in muted tones, most plain and unadorned, except one decorated with silver, reflective circles. More models followed wearing floral aprons you might find on a British dinner lady in the 1970s, while the battered leather jackets – and now aprons – were as strong as seasons before.

In its various fabrics, forms and hues, the apron was the focal point of the collection, described by the house with reverence and esteem. “The apron, as a universal symbol of work, is afforded a nobility and respect,” the notes read. “A reflection on function and purpose, the apron can be simultaneously utilitarian and decorative. Cultural meanings of this garment can shift radically according to changes in materialisation and form… A single garment containing multitudes.” With the collection, Prada explores our relationship to an everyday item we don’t frequently consider, both celebrating and complicating our perception of “feminine” work.