Pradarama

I did have a post about Prada up before the collection came up on style.com. I was so excited because Prada is a collection I wait for with bated breath but I took it down because I wanted to have time to absorb the show and attempt to gather my thoughts. Mission unaccomplished so unfortunately you will all be subjected to some demented ramblings about lace and a little bit about race.

First of all, historic moment for Prada- Jourdan Dunn being the first black woman to walk the runway in the 21st century, which makes WWD's title Miucci Plays the Lace Card either a way to suggest yet sidestep any serious social commentary or purposefully obtuse (either way uncool). That will have to be an aside for now as race and fashion is so complicated it should be the subject of its own post(s) in the future-after the conclusion of all the fashion weeks.

Second and for the main meat of this post- I enjoyed this collection. I find that Miucci's intellectualism (even as her skill as a designer is uncontested)is a little overplayed-she certainly makes statements but by virtue of their obviousness I find them a little superficial and less interesting than, say Jil Sander's exuberant minimalism or even Balenciaga's theatrical ornateness. However she stands, in my mind, as the Master of Materials. Playing with textures and materials is, of course, not limited to her but undoubtedly Prada deploys her statements not merely through cut and design but heavily through materials.
Examples:
1. Miu-Miu's Fall 07's acrylic jeweled brogue pump in pepto bismal pink, careful neutrals or inkiest blacks speaking to the artificiality of femininity; the disjunct yet continuity between past and present. All of this articulated through a chunk of acrylic and a few scattered 'jewels'. Obvious? Perhaps, but still ingenious.
2. The entire Fall 07 Prada collection. Not much to say about that but that Miucci said she wanted to concentrate on material and that is what she did. So innovative, off the wall and brilliant. One of my most enjoyed collections ever.

That brings me to Fall 2008, the collection which will no doubt see lace spilling out of every suburban mall very soon. Much has been made about this seasons inherent eroticism, understandable, since black lace is not only the most over represented fabric in lingerie but also revealing, however it is so much more. Lace is decidedly a woman's fabric-christening, communion, lingerie, veils, mantilla, death shroud, it inhabits a space intimately connected to the (feminine) body's sacred, sexual, mortal rites of passage. As Prada herself has said "I still don't understand why I like lace - but it is such an accompaniment of women, through childhood, marriage and being a widow," all images which can be seen in the collection.





















From this the collection seems to be focused on having the stages of a woman's life intimately envelope her, snowy skin (for the most part) against inky lace. While this collection thus shows a remarkable understanding of how material can speak for itself-becoming just as important as design elements, it does not necessarily show a deconstruction or widening of the category 'woman'. In fact perhaps the lack of diversity on the runway reflects the limitation of Prada's conception of 'woman' as exemplified by the choice of lace.





















To how many women is lace and the things that it represents a reality? And to what extent is that sample of 'woman' limited by race, class and culture? Kudo's for the lace Miucci, but let us recognize it for what it is....