Why in the world were we at the Hippodrome d’Auteuil, a Paris steeplechase track dating to 1873, for Miu Miu today? Miuccia Prada gave two answers as her guests queued for the post-runway buffet. First: This is a destination show, like Gucci in Rome, Dior in Marrakech, and Prada back in New York. It must be Instagrammable, and there has to be room enough for the after-party. “We had to search for a place,” she said, and the Hippodrome fit the bill. Second, as sports go, Prada considers horse racing conservative, and she’s eager to address that subject at the moment. “If I have to say something, it’s about playing with conservatism, with glamour and fun. Conservatism is something that worries me in general.”
That tracks with what Prada said at the Prada show back in May, at the beginning of this two-month-long Resort season. “I’m sensitive to the political situation,” she remarked. “It affects me.”
Miu Miu’s conservatism is not what most people would recognize as such, of course. Yes, the shapes were fairly straightforward. There were high-waist shorts and double-breasted blazers with the sleeves rolled up past the elbows, printed tea dresses with Chelsea collars, and a handful of bedazzled pouf-sleeve minidresses. But—here comes the glamour and the fun—they paraded out on sky-high cork- or mirror-soled platforms worn with bobby socks. And then there were the hats: cloches or newsboys or floppy-brimmed sun hats layered over baseball caps. Assembled one on top of the other, their proportions conjured visions of Ascot. A tweaked version of Ascot; Prada said she’s never been.
The collection’s decorative elements, too, were lifted from the racetrack. Sweaters were color-blocked and striped like traditional jockey’s jerseys, and horse and chariot prints as well as horseshoes were recurring motifs on silk dresses. Though they fit with the day-at-the-races theme, they weren’t the show’s major takeaways. Miu Miu’s young crowd may be tempted by the novelty factor of the elongated Chelsea collars that turned up on so many looks, and they’ll definitely go for the roomy shorts-and-platforms outfits, with miles of bare legs in between. The sparkly minidresses are also sure to please.