DESPITE ALL the radical trends Miuccia Prada pioneers on her runways, the Miu Miu and Prada designer is a creature of habit where her own wardrobe is concerned. Whether photographed at an industry event or while taking a quick, humble bow at the end of her fashion shows, Mrs. Prada can often be seen in a consistent yet not-at-all boring uniform of a sweater and full skirt.
What makes the look interesting is Mrs. Prada’s flair for oddness, which echoes the avant-garde awkwardness seen in so many of her collections. She’ll add an “ugly” color (like mustard) or a seemingly-off flashy accessory, like a statement necklace or earrings. Maybe she’ll mix in men’s socks with sandals. Whatever she chooses to enhance the outfit, it’s something that makes you look again. Author Judith Thurman, who wrote the introduction to 2012’s “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations,” the book that accompanied that year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of the same name, insists these sartorial twists are key. “Without that act of pulling it together and adding something unexpected, it doesn’t work. It would be expensive Ann Taylor.”
