Ever since announcing their team-up in 2020, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons have managed to do the impossible: keep the fashion crowd on their toes.
You really never know what to expect from a Prada show. You can make educated guesses—about who’ll be there (Maya Hawke, Letitia Wright, and Charli D’Amelio tend to make appearances), about what accessory will quickly become the season’s breakout. But this design duo thrives on the element of surprise. Mrs. Prada and Simons might riff on a few ideas, but they’ll rarely repeat themselves.
Such was the case at the brand’s spring 2025 runway show during Milan Fashion Week on Thursday. Following last season’s surprisingly coquette turn, the brand took on a more sinister edge this season, with a collection that swapped silk bows for metal hardware and soft pinks for jeweled greens, muddy brows, and bold purples.
Prada and Simons set the tone for the show with a pale yellow floral camisole dress that, upon further inspection, was ever-so-slightly off. The tied shoulder straps—one set firmly and the other angled off the shoulder—were stiff, down to the ribbons standing crookedly at the top. That look was followed by the latest iteration of the brand’s structured, mid-length shift dress—this time in black and pierced all over with silver metal rings. (Looks like last season’s girly-girl is going through an emo phase.)
Other recognizable Prada silhouettes were taken in a more Goth direction: pencil skirts sat low at the hip but were held up by belts at the waist, and the heels were in goblin mode (i.e. spiking up the front of the foot). Where collars would’ve once been starched to perfection, in Prada and Simons’s hands, they sat topsy-turvy. There was an ironic practicality to the styling, like how feathered and mirror-embellished evening looks were worn underneath orange and yellow nylon windbreakers, or how trousers were tucked into tall leather boots as if they were workwear. There was one particular green short-sleeve collared catsuit styled underneath a sheer black dress that’s surely on the shortlist for Cynthia Erivo’s upcoming Wicked press tour.
“There is a plurality of Prada, elements from different eras coexisting simultaneously to challenge any theory of chronology, creating impossible contradictions, points of difference,” the show notes read. The vibe here was less American Gothic, and more Atomic Age, with its reflective metallics, eyelets (on clothes, but also on visors that obscure the line of sight were it not for those keyholes), voluminous but structured skirts (very flying saucer) and retro-future goggle eyewear. (Plus, “Rocket USA” played as models made their way through the Fondazione Prada venue.) Don’t get it twisted, though: The codes of elegance are never lost—they just have a bite.
As far as which spring 2025 accessory will beat out the rest in hype? The boxy, slim folio bags are undoubtedly frontrunners, with their sleekness and tinge of nostalgia. Maybe it’ll be the shoes, many of which were pulled straight from the archives (for those who have struck out in resale). But don’t sleep on the bug-eye, geometric sunglasses. Fashion people rarely come across novelty eyewear they don’t like.
