cult of personality

Miuccia Prada ‘Liked It’ When Models Fell Down at Her Spring Show

Miuccia Prada’s crotch-skimming waders were one of the hottest items to walk down the fall 2009 runways. Suddenly she had us all thinking we needed winter boots that won’t permit us to wear pants. While everyone around her showed glitzy retro clubwear, she drew inspiration from a photo of a fisherman and somehow presented pantslessness in the least vulgar way possible. The legendary designer sat down for a rare interview with W magazine for the September issue. Highlights:

She is not bothered that models fell down in her spring 2009 show.

“When you say ‘commercial,’ it shouldn’t be an insult, like something is not beautiful,” she continues. “It has to be best in the sense that [it’s] really what people want to wear to look beautiful and elegant [in]. I wouldn’t have been thinking of all this stuff if there was not a crisis. The crisis obliges [us] to really focus also on what really makes sense.”

Miuccia Prada’s crotch-skimming waders were one of the hottest items to walk down the fall 2009 runways. Suddenly she had us all thinking we needed winter boots that won’t permit us to wear pants. While everyone around her showed glitzy retro clubwear, she drew inspiration from a photo of a fisherman and somehow presented pantslessness in the least vulgar way possible. The legendary designer sat down for a rare interview with W magazine for the September issue. Highlights:

She is not bothered that models fell down in her spring 2009 show.


She dresses for big occasions at the very last minute. The bigger the occasion, the longer she waits to select her outfit.

“It’s important that you feel right, so I use an instinct at the last moment. What I think is unbearable is to wear something that we don’t feel comfortable in. It’s completely, totally psychological. One dress you felt so happy in for that day and that occasion, you put it on in another moment and all the magic is completely disappeared. There is a very tricky [relationship] between the occasion and your mind at that moment.”


Now that her sons are 19 and 20 years old, she has begun to care about how clothes fit them and other men.

“Men’s jackets have the most boring stuff, a little bit more short, a little bit more big, a little bit more small. You develop a perfect eye, but it’s really boring. It becomes when you are really involved that you really care. Basically, I found out for my kids. Otherwise when I do the fashion shows myself, I’m more interested in the idea than actually if something fits or not fits. I never care. I care most if I like the idea.”


Her sons were disappointed in her when she didn’t vote in the last election.

“Of course, because I always taught them principles and the idea of [the importance of] politics, if they see in myself a false step, they become … . I know it was wrong. I should have gone.


Critics matter.

“I don’t believe that anyone is not bothered by critics. I think that everybody cares.”


Smart Sex [W]

Miuccia Prada ‘Liked It’ When Models Fell Down at Her Spring Show