Miu Miu: Frolicking and fashionable bourgeois

Miu Miu once was the frisky kid sister of Prada, now she is the naughty young aunt.

The latest provocatively polished and majestically staged Miu Miu show opened and closed with knickers. It began with a perverse PA in a see-through polka dot dress the better to see her underwear. It finished with a trio of lassies in knickers made entirely of strass – reflective pink, green and gold. Apart from the panties they wore tight cashmere sweatshirts – with mini logos.

Throughout, the collection managed to be cerebral yet also overtly sexual – as if all the women in this co-ed show were en route for a tryst with a new lover. Sexy but, being Miu Miu, of the most sophisticated sort.

Staged inside the Conseil de Surveillance, a mammoth 30s modernist building, the collection was the last by a major brand in the 26-day international season that officially began on Friday, February 12 in New York.

Last but very much not least, the collection also seemed to capture the yearning for unexpected romance, coursing through the current season. After four weeks dominated by rather conservative clothes, it was refreshing to see some racy fashion on an elevated catwalk.

The Miu Miu man was a more conventional figure. He wore pants, unlike any of the girls in this show. A good third of the women wore glasses, adding to the sense of a bluestocking out on the prowl.

For the opening look, a short, non-professional set the scene. Her tights pulled high over the bottom of her sweater, with a semi-sheer polka dot skirt. Many of the knits were so light and spongy they were effectively transparent.

Then, when designer Miuccia Prada turned her mind to tailoring, you sensed all the women in the audience wanted every look, judging by their intense gaze and open-mouthed looks. Standouts included cuboid jackets in mustard or gray wool; and a series of furrowed knit coats and blazers that felt very now. All the way to possibly the prettiest dress of the whole season, a beige negligee dress decorated with sequins, strass and plastic flowers, that was disarmingly beautiful.

The whole show driven on by a sensational soundtrack, churning industrial percussion mixed with screeching Latin jazz saxophone, recalling the steamiest scenes in Last Tango in Paris. Which come to think of it was shot two bridges down the Seine from this show.

Miu Miu: Frolicking and fashionable bourgeois

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