She’d had the entire place—hall, chairs, pillars, floors, sweeping Art Deco staircases, and all—smothered in lavender fake fur of a cheesy, curly, astrakhan-imitating kind. Bringing down the curtain on Fall 2017 (the fashion shows have been running through the weirdest, most conflict-ridden political four weeks since the late 1960s), Miuccia Prada knew exactly what advice to offer the Miu Miu girls of the world: “It’s about the madness of glamour, in front of an uncertain future,” she said, and then added, “and I am getting really interested in so many kinds of beauty.” In other words? Face it down, glam it out, and represent!
Good, good. They were all there, women of various backgrounds and races. They were an army, clad in synthetically kitsch multi-pastel furry baker-boy hats, coats, and skirts; brilliant clashing psychedelic-print tunics and flares; glittery jewels; and big-shouldered knit sweaters and skirts that hearkened back to the 1940s and ’70s. There were paillettes aplenty—short dresses and skimpy, slinky lingerie slips twinkling with diamanté, accessorized with huge crazy-framed sunglasses.
It was all a hundred percent Miu Miu, of course, but with the color and the commitment to the surreal enjoyment of clothes turned up to max volume. Luxury fashion is engaged in a battle to justify its raison d’être in these dark times, as Miuccia Prada—perhaps its foremost feminist leader—knows very well. The madness of glamour? Historically, dressing up against the odds was a female retort to the Great Depression and a psychological defense during World War II. In the crisis that faces women’s rights now, fashion may seem to be only of small help. Yet it has a duty to show a way and to put its own house in order in areas where it has been slacking for far too long. If nothing else, the beautiful inclusiveness on this runway was the overriding message that wrapped up this season—from which there can be no turning back.